GEORGE  ABEL  SCHREINER 


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THE    IRON   RATION 


Photograph  from  Henry  Ruschin 

AUSTRIAN    SOLDIER    IX     CARPATHIAXS     GIVING     HUNGRY    YOUNGSTER 
SOMETHING   TO   EAT 

Moved  by  the  misery  of  the  civilian  population  the  soldiers  will  often  share  their 
rations  with  them.  An  Austrian  soldier  in  this  case  shares  his  food  with  a  boy  in  a 
small  town  in  the  Carpathian  Mountains,  Hungary. 


THE 

HION    RATION 

Three  Years  in 
Warring  Central  Europe 

BY 

GEORGE  ABEL  SCHREINER 

ILLUSTRATED 


HARPER  fcf  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 


THE  IRON  RATION 


Copyright,  1918,  by  Harper  &  Brothers 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 

Published  February,  1918 

8-8 


TO  MY  FRIEND 

DR.  JEROME    STONBOROUGH 
MAN  — SCHOLAR  — PHILANTHROPIST 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

AUSTRIAN  SOLDIER  IN  CARPATHIANS  GIVING 

HUNGRY  YOUNGSTER  SOMETHING  TO  EAT  Frontispiece 
PROVING-GROUND  OP  THE  KRUPP  WORKS  AT 

ESSEN Facing  p.  30 

A  LEVY  OF  FARMER  BOYS  OFF  FOR  THE 

BARRACKS "  66 

GERMAN  CAVALRYMEN  AT  WORK  PLOWING  .  "  66 
STREET    SCENE    AT    EISENBACH,    SOUTHERN 

GERMANY "  96 

CASTLE  HOHENZOLLERN       "  188 

TRAVELING-KITCHEN  IN  BERLIN "  260 

STREET  TRAM  AS  FREIGHT  CARRIER     .    .    .  "  260 

WOMEN  CARRYING  BRICKS  AT  BUDAPEST    .    .  "  296 

VILLAGE  SCENE  IN  HUNGARY        "  296 

SCENE  IN  GERMAN  SHIP-BUILDING  YARD  "  378 


PREFACE 

"THE  IRON  RATION"  is  the  name  for  the  food 
the  soldier  carries  in  his  "pack"  when  in  the 
field.  It  may  be  eaten  only  when  the  command- 
ing officer  deems  this  necessary  and  wise.  When 
the  iron  ration  is  released,  no  command  that  the 
soldier  should  eat  is  necessary.  He  is  hungry 
then — famished.  Usually  by  that  time  he  has 
been  on  half,  third,  and  quarter  ration.  The 
iron  ration  is  the  last  food  in  sight.  There 
may  be  more  to-morrow.  But  that  is  not  the 
motive  of  the  commander  for  releasing  the  food. 
What  he  has  to  deal  with  is  the  fact  that  his 
men  are  on  the  verge  of  exhaustion. 

The  population  of  the  states  known  as  the 
Central  Powers  group  of  belligerents  being  in  a 
position  similar  to  that  of  the  soldiers  consuming 
their  iron  ration,  I  have  chosen  the  designation 
of  this  emergency  meal  as  title  for  a  book  that 
deals  with  life  in  Central  Europe  as  influenced 
by  the  war. 

That  life  has  been  paid  little  attention  by 
writers.  The  military  operations,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  scarcity  of  food,  on  the  other, 
have  been  the  cynosures.  How  and  to  what 
extent  these  were  related,  and  in  what  manner 


PREFACE 

they  were  borne  by  the  public,  is  not  understood. 
Seen  from  afar,  war  and  hunger  and  all  that 
relates  to  them,  form  so  bewildering  a  mosaic 
in  somber  colors  that  only  a  very  general  im- 
pression is  gained  of  them. 

I  have  pictured  here  the  war  time  life  of  Cen- 
tral Europe's  social  and  political  aggregates.  Of 
that  life  the  struggle  for  bread  was  the  major 
aspect.  The  words  of  the  Lord's  Prayer — "Give 
us  our  daily  bread  " — came  soon  to  have  a  great 
meaning  to  the  people  of  Central  Europe.  That 
cry  was  addressed  to  the  government,  however. 
Food  regulation  came  as  the  result  of  it.  What 
that  regulation  was  is  being  shown  here. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  I  have  given  food  ques- 
tions a  great  deal  of  close  attention.  The  war- 
time life  of  Central  Europe  could  not  be  por- 
trayed in  any  other  manner.  All  effort  and 
thought  was  directed  toward  the  winning  of 
the  scantiest  fare.  Men  and  women  no  longer 
strove  for  the  pleasures  of  life,  but  for  the  ab- 
solute essentials  of  living.  During  the  day  all 
labored  and  scrambled  for  food,  and  at  night 
men  and  women  schemed  and  plotted  how  to 
make  the  fearful  struggle  easier. 

To  win  even  a  loaf  of  bread  became  difficult. 
It  was  not  alone  a  question  of  meeting  the 
simplest  wants  of  living  by  the  hardest  of  labor; 
the  voracity  of  the  tax  collector  and  the  rapacity 
of  the  war  profiteer  came  to  know  no  bounds. 
Morsels  had  to  be  snatched  out  of  the  mouth 
of  the  poor  to  get  revenue  for  the  war  and  the 
pound  of  flesh  for  the  Shylocks. 


PREFACE 

So  intense  was  that  struggle  for  bread  that 
men  and  women  began  to  look  upon  all  else  in 
life  as  wholly  secondary.  A  laxness  in  sex  mat- 
ters ensued.  The  mobilizations  and  the  loss  of 
life  incident  to  the  war  aggravated  this  laxity. 

But  these  are  things  set  out  in  the  book. 
Here  I  will  say  that  war  is  highly  detrimental 
to  all  classes  of  men  and  women.  When  human 
society  is  driven  to  realize  that  nothing  in  life 
counts  when  there  is  no  food,  intellectual  prog- 
ress ceases.  When  bread  becomes  indeed  the 
irreducible  minimum,  the  mask  falls  and  we  see 
the  human  being  in  all  its  nakedness. 

Were  I  presumptuous  enough  to  say  so,  I 
might  affirm  that  this  book  contains  the  truth, 
nothing  but  the  truth,  and  the  whole  truth  about 
Germany  and  Central  Europe.  I  have  the 
necessary  background  for  so  bold  a  statement. 
I  know  the  German  language  almost  perfectly. 
German  literature,  tradition  and  thought,  and 
I  are  no  strangers.  Three  years  of  contact  as 
newspaper-man  with  all  that  is  German  and 
Central  European  provided  all  the  opportunities 
for  observation  and  study  one  could  wish  for. 
And  the  flare  of  the  Great  War  was  illumining 
my  field,  bringing  into  bold  relief  the  bad,  which 
had  been  made  worse,  and  the  good,  which  had 
been  made  better. 

But  there  is  no  human  mind  that  can  truth- 
fully and  unerringly  encompass  every  feature 
and  phase  of  so  calamitous  a  thing  as  the  part 
taken  in  the  European  War  by  the  Central 
Powers  group  of  belligerents.  I  at  least  cannot 


PREFACE 

picture  to  myself  such  a  mind.  Much  less  could 
I  claim  that  I  possessed  it. 

What  I  have  written  here  is  an  attempt  to 
mirror  truthfully  the  conditions  and  circum- 
stances which  raised  throughout  Central  Europe, 
a  year  after  the  war  had  begun,  the  cry  in  city, 
town,  village,  and  hamlet,  "Give  us  bread!" 

During  the  first  two  months  of  the  European 
War  I  was  stationed  at  The  Hague  for  the 
Associated  Press  of  America.  I  was  then  ordered 
to  Berlin,  and  later  was  given  carte  blanche  in 
Austria-Hungary,  Roumania,  Bulgaria,  and  Tur- 
key. When  military  operations,  aside  from  the 
great  fronts  in  Central  Europe,  had  lost  much 
of  the  public's  interest,  I  returned  to  Germany 
and  Austria-Hungary,  giving  thereafter  the 
Balkans  and  Turkey  such  attention  as  occasional 
trips  made  possible.  In  the  course  of  three  years 
I  saw  every  front,  and  had  the  most  generous 
opportunities  to  become  familiar  with  the  sub- 
ject treated  in  this  book — life  in  Central  Europe 
as  it  was  amidst  war  and  famine. 

You  will  meet  here  most  of  the  personages 
active  in  the  guiding  of  Central  Europe's  des- 
tiny— monarchs,  statesmen,  army  leaders,  and 
those  in  humbler  spheres.  You  will  also  meet 
the  lowly.  Beside  the  rapacious  beasts  of  prey 
stand  those  upon  whom  they  fed.  Prussianism 
is  encountered  as  I  found  it.  I  believe  the 
Prussianism  I  picture  is  the  real  Prussianism. 

The  ways  of  the  autocrat  stand  in  no  favor 
with  me,  and,  being  somewhat  addicted  to  con- 
sistency, I  have  borne  this  in  mind  while  writing. 


PREFACE 

The  author  can  be  as  autocratic  as  the  ruler. 
His  despotism  has  the  form  of  stuffing  down 
others'  throats  his  opinions.  Usually  he  thinks 
himself  quite  as  infallible  as  those  whose  acts  he 
may  have  come  to  criticize.  But  since  the  doc- 
trine of  infallibility  is  the  mainstay  of  all  that 
is  bad  and  despotic  in  thought  as  well  as  in 
government,  we  can  well  afford  to  give  it  a  wide 
berth.  If  the  German  people  had  thought  their 
governments — there  are  many  governments  in 
Germany — less  infallible  they  would  not  have 
tolerated  the  absolutism  of  the  Prussian  Junker. 
To  that  extent  responsibility  for  the  European 
War  must  rest  on  the  shoulders  of  the  people 
— a  good  people,  earnest,  law-abiding,  thrifty, 
unassuming,  industrious,  painstaking,  temperate, 
and  charitable. 

Some  years  ago  there  was  a  struggle  be- 
tween republicanism  and  monarchism  on  the 
South  African  veldt.  I  was  a  participant  in 
that — on  the  republican  side.  I  grant  that  our 
government  was  not  as  good  as  it  might  have 
been.  I  grant  that  our  republic  was  in  reality  a 
paternal  oligarchy.  Yet  there  was  the  principle 
of  the  thing.  The  Boers  preferred  being  burghers 
— citizens — to  being  subjects.  The  word  subject 
implies  government  ownership  of  the  individual. 
The  word  citizen  means  that,  within  the  range 
of  the  prudently  possible,  the  individual  is 
co-ordinate  instead  of  subordinated.  That  may 
seem  a  small  cause  to  some  for  the  loss  of  11,000 
men  and  23,000  women  and  children,  which  the 
Boers  sustained  in  defense  of  that  principle. 


PREFACE 

And  yet  that  same  cause  led  to  the  American 
Revolution.  For  that  same  cause  stood  Wash- 
ington, Jefferson,  and  Lincoln.  For  that  same 
cause  stands  every  good  American  to-day — my 
humble  self  included. 

S. 

NEW  YOEK,  January,  1918. 


THE   IRON   RATION 


THE   IRON   RATION 


WAR   HITS   THE   LARDER   OF   GERMANY 

PRESS  and  government  in  the  Entente 
countries  were  sure  that  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary  could  be  reduced  by  hun- 
ger in  some  six  months  after  the  outbreak 
of  the  European  War.  The  newspapers  and 
authorities  of  the  Central  Powers  made  sport 
of  this  contention  at  first,  but  sobered  up  con- 
siderably when  the  flood  of  contraband  "orders 
in  privy  council"  began  to  spill  in  London. 
At  first  conditional  contraband  became  contra- 
band. Soon  non-contraband  became  conditional 
contraband,  and  not  long  after  that  the  British 
government  set  its  face  even  against  the  import 
into  Germany  of  American  apples.  That  was 
the  last  straw,  as  some  thought.  The  end  of 
contraband  measures  was  not  yet,  however.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  neutrals  of  Europe, 
having  physical  contact  with  the  Central  Powers, 
were  to  find  out  that  they  could  not  export  food 

to  Germany  without  having  to  account  for  it. 

i 


THE   IRON    RATION 

Small  wonder  then  that  already  in  September 
of  1914  it  was  asserted  that  the  elephants  of 
the  Berlin  Zoo  had  been  butchered  for  their 
meat.  I  was  then  stationed  at  The  Hague,  as 
correspondent  for  an  American  telegraphic  news 
service,  and  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the 
"reports"  of  the  day.  It  was  my  business  to 
keep  the  American  public  as  reliably  informed 
as  conditions  permitted. 

I  did  not  publish  anything  about  the  alleged 
butchering  of  elephants  and  other  denizens  of 
the  Berlin  zoological  establishments,  knowing 
full  well  that  these  stories  were  absurd.  And, 
then,  I  was  not  in  the  necessary  frame  of  mind 
to  look  upon  elephant  steak  as  others  did.  Most 
people  harbor  a  sort  of  prejudice  against  those 
who  depart  from  what  is  considered  a  "regular" 
bill  of  fare.  We  sniff  at  those  whom  we  suspect 
of  being  hippophagians,  despite  the  fact  that  our 
hairier  ancestors  made  sitting  down  to  a  fine 
horse  roast  an  important  feature  of  their  relig- 
ious ceremonies.  I  can't  do  that  any  longer 
since  circumstances  compelled  me  once  to  par- 
take of  mule.  Nor  was  it  good  mule.  Lest 
some  be  shocked  at  this  seeming  perversity,  I 
will  add  that  this  happened  during  the  late 
Anglo-Boer  War. 

The  statement,  especially  as  amended,  should 
serve  as  an  assurance  that  I  am  really  qualified 
to  write  on  food  in  war-time,  and  no  Shavianism 
is  intended,  either. 

Food  conditions  in  Germany  interested  me  in- 
tensely. Hunger  was  expected  to  do  a  great 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

deal  of  fighting  for  the  Allies.  I  was  not  so 
sure  that  this  conclusion  was  correct.  Germany 
had  open-eyedly  taken  a  chance  with  the  British 
blockade.  That  left  room  for  the  belief  that 
somebody  in  Germany  had  well  considered  this 
thing. 

But  the  first  German  food  I  saw  had  a  peculiar 
fascination  for  me,  for  all  that.  Under  the  glass 
covers  standing  on  the  buffet  of  a  little  restaurant 
at  Vaalsplatz  I  espied  sandwiches.  Were  they 
real  sandwiches,  or  "property"  staged  for  my 
special  benefit?  It  was  generally  believed  in 
those  days  that  the  Germans  had  brought  to 
their  border  towns  all  the  food  they  had  in  the 
empire's  interior,  so  that  the  Entente  agents 
would  be  fooled  into  believing  that  there  was 
plenty  of  food  on  hand. 

Vaalsplatz  is  the  other  half  of  Vaals.  The 
two  half  towns  make  up  one  whole  town,  which 
really  is  not  a  whole  town,  because  the  Dutch- 
German  border  runs  between  the  two  half  towns. 
But  the  twin  communities  are  very  neighborly. 
I  suspected  as  much.  For  that  reason  the  pres- 
ence of  the  sandwiches  in  Vaalsplatz  meant 
nothing.  What  assurance  had  I  that,  when  they 
saw  me  coming,  the  sandwiches  were  not  rushed 
across  the  border  and  into  Germany,  so  that  I 
might  find  the  fleshpots  of  Egypt  where  the 
gaunt  specter  of  famine  was  said  to  have  its 
lair? 

This  is  the  manner  in  which  the  press  agents 
of  starvation  used  to  work  in  those  days.  And 
the  dear,  gullible  public,  never  asking  itself 


THE    IRON    RATION 

once  whether  it  was  possible  to  reduce  almosl 
overnight  to  starvation  two  states  that  were  not 
far  from  being  economically  self-contained,  swal- 
lowed it  all — bait,  hook,  line,  and  sinker. 

My  modus  operandi  differed  a  little  from  this. 
I  bought  three  of  the  sandwiches  for  ten  pfen- 
nige — two  and  a  quarter  cents  American — -apiece, 
and  found  them  toothsome  morsels,  indeed.  The 
discovery  was  made,  also,  that  German  beer  was 
still  as  good  as  it  always  had  been. 

My  business  on  that  day  took  me  no  farther 
into  Germany  than  the  cemetery  that  lies  half- 
way between  Vaalsplatz  and  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
There  I  caught  on  the  wing,  as  it  were,  the  man 
I  was  looking  for,  and  then  smuggled  him  out 
of  the  country  as  my  secretary. 

I  had  seen  no  other  food  but  the  sandwiches, 
and  as  I  jumped  from  the  speeding  trolley-car 
I  noticed  that  they  were  digging  a  grave  in  the 
cemetery.  Ah!  Haven  of  refuge  for  a  famine 
victim! 

I  said  something  of  that  sort  to  the  man  I  was 
smuggling  into  Holland.  Roger  L.  Lewis  looked 
at  me  with  contempt  and  pity  in  his  eyes,  as 
the  novelist  would  say. 

"Are  you  crazy?"  he  asked.  "Why,  the  Ger- 
mans have  more  food  than  is  good  for  them. 
They  are  a  nation  of  gluttons,  in  fact." 

With  Mr.  Lewis  going  to  London  I  could  not 
very  well  write  of  the  sandwiches  and  the  grave 
in  the  cemetery.  These  things  were  undeniable 
facts.  I  had  seen  them.  But  the  trouble  was 
that  they  were  not  related  to  each  other  and  had 

4 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

with  life  only  those  connections  they  normally 
have.  The  famine-booster  does  not  look  at 
things  in  that  light,  though. 

Four  weeks  later  I  was  in  Berlin.  The  service 
had  sent  me  there  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  the 
famine  yarns.  There  seemed  to  be  something 
wrong  with  starvation.  It  was  not  progressing 
rapidly  enough,  and  I  was  to  see  to  what  extent 
the  Entente  economists  were  right. 

In  a  large  restaurant  on  the  Leipzigerstrasse 
in  Berlin  I  found  a  very  interesting  bill  of  fare 
and  a  placard  speaking  of  food.  The  menu  was 
generous  enough.  It  offered  the  usual  assortment 
of  hors-d'ceuvre,  soup,  fish,  entree,  relevge,  roasts, 
cold  meats,  salads,  vegetables,  and  sweetmeats. 

On  the  table  stood  a  basket  filled  with  dinner 
rolls.  The  man  was  waiting  for  my  order. 

But  to  give  an  order  seemed  not  so  simple.  I 
was  trying  to  reconcile  the  munificence  of  the 
dishes  list  with  the  legend  on  the  placard.  That 
legend  said — heavy  black  letters  on  white  card- 
board, framed  by  broad  lines  of  scarlet  red: 


SAVE  THE  FOOD! 

The  esteemed  patrons  of  this  establishment 
are  requested  not  to  eat  unnecessarily.  Do 
not  eat  two  dishes  if  one  is  enough! 

THE  MANAGEMENT. 


It  was  my  first  day  in  Berlin,   and  having 

that  very  morning,  at  Bentheim,  on  the  Dutch- 
2  5 


THE    IRON    RATION 

German  border,  run  into  a  fine  piece  of  German 
thoroughness  and  regard  for  the  law,  I  was  at 
a  loss  what  to  do  under  the  circumstances. 
While  I  knew  that  the  management  of  the  res- 
taurant could  not  have  me  arrested  if  I  picked 
more  than  two  dishes,  I  had  also  ascertained  that 
the  elephant  steak  was  a  fable,  I  was  not  so  sure 
that  ordering  a  "regular"  dinner  might  not  give 
offense.  That  is  the  sort  of  feeling  you  have 
on  the  first  day  in  a  country  at  war.  I  had  seen 
so  many  war  proclamations  of  the  government, 
all  in  heavy  black  and  red  on  white,  that  the 
restaurant  placard  really  meant  more  to  me  than 
was  necessary. 

I  asked  the  waiter  to  come  to  my  assistance. 
Being  a  native  of  the  country,  he  would  know, 
no  doubt,  how  far  I  could  go. 

"You  needn't  pay  any  attention  to  that  sign, 
sir!"  he  said.  "Nobody  does  any  more.  You 
can  order  anything  you  like — as  many  dishes  as 
you  please." 

I  wanted  to  know  whether  the  placard  was 
due  to  a  government  regulation. 

"Not  directly,  sir.  The  government  has  ad- 
vised hotels  and  restaurants  to  economize  in 
food.  The  management  here  wanted  to  do  its 
share,  of  course,  and  had  these  signs  printed. 
At  first  our  patrons  minded  them.  But  now 
everybody  is  falling  back  into  the  old  eating 
habits,  and  the  management  wants  to  make  all 
the  money  it  can,  of  course." 

The  war  was  then  about  two  months  old. 

What  the  waiter  said  was  enough  for  me.    I 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

ordered  accordingly  and  during  dinner  had  much 
of  the  company  of  the  serving-man.  It  seemed 
that  to  a  great  deal  of  natural  shrewdness  he 
had  added,  in  the  course  of  much  traveling,  a 
fair  general  education.  When  I  left  the  res- 
taurant I  was  richer  by  a  good  picture  of  food 
conditions  in  Berlin,  as  these  had  been  influenced 
up  to  that  moment  by  the  intentions  of  the 
Prussian  government. 

So  far  the  authorities  had  done  very  little 
to  "regulate"  food  questions,  though  problems 
were  already  in  sight  and  had  to  be  dealt  with 
by  the  poor  of  the  city.  That  economy  had  to 
be  practised  was  certain  even  then.  The  gov- 
ernment had  counseled  economy  in  consumption, 
and  various  patriotic  societies  and  institutions  of 
learning  had  given  advice.  But  actual  interfer- 
ence in  public  subsistence  matters  had  so  far 
not  taken  place. 

The  German  government  had  tried  to  meet  the 
English  "business-as-usual"  with  a  policy  of 
"eating-as-usual."  It  was  felt  that  cutting  down 
on  food  might  put  a  damper  on  the  war  spirit. 
To  be  enthusiastic  when  hungry  may  be  possible 
for  the  superman.  It  is  hard  work  for  the  come- 
and-go  kind  of  citizen. 

Nor  had  anybody  found  cause  to  abandon 
the  notion  that  the  European  War  would  not 
last  long.  True  enough,  the  western  front  had 
been  congealed  by  Marshal  Joffre,  but  there  was 
then  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  would  not 
again  be  brought  into  flux,  in  which  case  it  was 
hoped  that  the  German  general  staff  would  give 


THE    IRON    RATION 

to  the  world  a  fine  picture  of  swift  and  telling 
offensive  in  open-field  operations.  After  that  the 
war  was  to  be  over. 

Of  the  six  months  which  the  war  was  to  last, 
according  to  plans  that  existed  in  the  mouths  of 
the  gossips,  two  were  past  now,  and  still  the 
end  was  not  in  sight.  An  uncomfortable  feeling 
came  upon  many  when  seclusion  undraped 
reality.  That  much  I  learned  during  my  first 
week  at  the  German  capital. 

I  must  mention  here  that  I  speak  German 
almost  perfectly.  Armed  in  this  manner,  I  in- 
vaded markets  and  stores,  ate  to-day  in  the 
super-refined  halls  of  the  Adlon  and  shared  to- 
morrow a  table  with  some  hackman,  and  suc- 
ceeded also  in  gaining  entree  into  some  families, 
rich,  not-so-rich,  and  poor. 

In  the  course  of  three  weeks  I  had  established 
to  my  own  satisfaction,  and  that  of  the  service, 
that  while  as  yet  there  could  be  no  question  of 
food  shortage  in  Germany,  there  would  soon 
come  a  time  when  waists — which  were  not  thin 
then  by  any  means — would  shrink.  The  tendency 
of  food  prices  was  upward,  and,  as  they  rose, 
more  people  increased  the  consumption  of  food 
staples,  especially  bread.  Since  these  staples 
were  the  marrow  of  the  country's  economic  or- 
ganism, something  would  have  to  be  done  soon 
to  limit  their  consumption  to  the  absolutely 
necessary. 

The  first  step  in  that  direction  was  soon  to 
be  taken.  War-bread — Kriegsbrot — made  its  ap- 
pearance. It  was  more  of  a  staff  of  life  than 

8 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

had  been  believed,  despite  its  name.  To  roughly 
55  per  cent,  of  rye  was  added  25  per  cent,  of 
wheat  and  20  per  cent,  of  potato  meal,  sugar, 
and  shortening.  The  bread  was  very  palatable, 
and  the  potato  elements  in  it  prevented  its 
getting  stale  rapidly.  It  tasted  best  on  the 
third  day,  and  on  trips  to  the  front  I  have  kept 
the  bread  as  long  as  a  week  without  noticing 
deterioration. 

But  the  German  had  lived  well  in  the  past 
and  it  was  not  easy  to  break  him  of  the  habits 
he  had  cultivated  under  a  superabundance  of 
food.  The  thing  had  gone  so  far  that  when  some- 
body wanted  to  clean  an  expensive  wall-paper 
the  baker  would  be  required  to  deliver  a  dozen 
hot  loaves  of  wheat  bread,  which,  cut  into  halves 
lengthwise,  would  then  be  rubbed  over  the  wall- 
paper— with  excellent  results  as  regards  the 
appearance  of  the  room  and  the  swill-barrel 
from  which  the  pigs  were  fed. 

On  this  subject  I  had  a  conversation  with  a 
woman  of  the  upper  class.  She  admitted  that 
she  herself  had  done  it.  The  paper  was  of  the 
best  sort  and  so  pleasing  to  her  eyes  that  she 
could  not  bear  having  it  removed  when  discolored 
from  exposure  to  light  and  dust. 

"It  was  sinful,  of  course,"  she  said.  "I  be- 
lieve the  Good  Book  says  that  bread  should  not 
be  wasted,  or  something  to  that  effect.  Well, 
we  had  grown  careless.  I  am  ashamed  when  I 
think  of  it.  My  mother  would  have  never  per- 
mitted that.  But  everybody  was  doing  it.  It 
seems  now  that  we  are  about  to  pay  for  our 


THE    IRON   RATION 

transgressions.  All  Germany  was  fallen  upon 
the  evil  ways  that  come  from  too  much  pros- 
perity. From  a  thrifty  people  we  had  grown  to 
be  a  luxury-loving  one.  The  war  will  do  us 
good  in  that  respect.  It  will  show  us  that  the 
simple  life  is  to  be  preferred  to  the  kind  we  have 
been  leading  for  some  twenty  years  now.'* 

Then  the  countess  resumed  her  knitting,  and 
spoke  of  the  fact  that  she  had  at  the  front  six 
sons,  one  son-in-law,  and  four  automobiles. 

"But  what  troubles  me  most  is  that  my  estates 
have  been  deprived  of  so  many  of  their  laborers 
and  horses  that  I  may  not  be  able  to  attend 
properly  to  the  raising  of  crops,"  she  continued. 
"My  superintendents  write  me  that  they  are 
from  two  to  three  weeks  behind  in  plowing  and 
seeding.  The  weather  isn't  favorable,  either. 
What  is  going  to  happen  to  us  in  food  matters, 
if  this  war  should  last  a  year?  Do  you  think  it 
'will  last  a  year?" 

I  did  not  know,  of  course. 

"You  ought  to  know  the  English  very  well," 
said  the  countess.  "Do  you  think  they  really 
mean  to  starve  us  out?" 

"They  will  if  the  military  situation  demands 
this,  madame,"  I  replied.  "Your  people  will 
make  a  mistake  if  they  overlook  the  tenacity  of 
that  race.  I  am  speaking  from  actual  experience 
on  the  South  African  plains.  You  need  expect 
no  let-up  from  the  English.  They  may  blunder 
a  great  deal,  but  they  always  have  the  will  and 
the  resources  to  make  good  their  mistakes  and 

profit  by  them,  even  if  they  cannot  learn  rapidly." 

10 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

The  countess  had  thought  as  much. 

I  gained  a  good  insight  into  German  food 
production  a  few  days  later,  while  I  was  the 
guest  of  the  countess  on  an  estate  not  far  from 
Berlin. 

The  fields  there  were  being  put  to  the  best 
possible  use  under  intensive  farming,  though 
'their  soil  had  been  deprived  of  its  natural  store 
of  plant  nutriment  centuries  ago. 

I  suppose  the  estate  was  poor  "farmland" 
already  when  the  first  crops  were  being  raised 
in  New  England.  But  intelligent  cultivation, 
and,  above  all,  rational  fertilizing  methods,  had 
always  kept  it  in  a  fine  state  of  production. 
The  very  maximum  in  crops  was  being  obtained 
almost  every  year.  Trained  agriculturists  super- 
intended the  work,  and,  while  machinery  was 
being  employed,  none  of  it  was  used  in  depart- 
ments where  it  would  have  been  the  cause  of  a 
loss  in  production — something  against  which  the 
ease-loving  farmer  is  not  always  proof. 

The  idea  was  to  raise  on  the  area  all  that 
could  be  raised,  even  if  the  net  profit  from  a 
less  thorough  method  of  cultivation  would  have 
been  just  as  big.  Inquiry  showed  that  the 
agrarian  policy  of  the  German  government  fa- 
vored this  course.  The  high  protective  tariff, 
under  which  the  German  food-producer  operated, 
left  a  comfortable  profit  margin  no  matter  how 
good  the  crops  of  the  competitor  might  be.  Since 
Germany  imported  a  small  quantity  of  food 
even  in  years  when  bumper  crops  came,  large 

harvests  did  not  cause  a  depression  in  prices; 

11 


THE    IRON    RATION 

they  merely  kept  foreign  foodstuffs  out  of  the 
country  and  thereby  increased  the  trade  balance 
in  favor  of  Germany. 

Visiting  some  small  farms  and  villages  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  estate,  I  found  that  the 
example  set  by  the  scientifically  managed  Gut 
of  the  countess  was  being  followed  everywhere. 
The  agrarian  policy  of  the  government  had 
wiped  out  all  competition  between  large  and 
small  producers,  and  so  well  did  the  village 
farmers  and  the  estate-managers  get  along  that 
the  Gut  was  in  reality  a  sort  of  agricultural 
experiment  station  and  school  farm  for  those 
who  had  not  studied  agriculture  at  the  seats  of 
learning  which  the  bespectacled  superintendents 
of  the  countess  had  attended. 

I  began  to  understand  why  Germany  was  able 
to  virtually  grow  on  an  area  less  than  that  of 
the  State  of  Texas  the  food  for  nearly  seventy 
million  people,  and  then  leave  to  forestry  and 
waste  lands  a  quarter  of  that  area.  There  was 
also  the  explanation  why  Germany  was  able  to 
export  small  quantities  of  rye  and  barley,  in 
exchange  for  the  wheat  she  could  not  raise  her- 
self profitably.  The  climate  of  northern  Ger- 
many is  not  well  suited  for  the  growing  of  wheat. 
If  it  were,  Germany  would  not  import  any  wheat, 
seeing  that  the  area  now  given  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar-beets  and  potatoes  could  be  cut 
down  much  without  affecting  home  consumption. 
As  it  is,  the  country  exported  before  the  war 
almost  a  third  of  her  sugar  production,  and  much 

of  the  alcohol  won  from  potatoes  entered  the 

12 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

foreign  market  either  in  its  raw  state  or  in  the 
form  of  manufactured  products. 

But  the  war  had  put  a  crimp  into  this  fine 
scheme.  Not  only  was  the  estate  short-handed 
and  short  of  animal  power,  but  in  the  villages  it 
was  no  better.  Some  six  million  men  had  then 
been  mobilized,  and  of  this  number  28  per  cent, 
came  directly  from  the  farms,  and  another  14 
per  cent,  had  formerly  been  engaged  in  food 
production  and  distribution  also.  To  fill  the 
large  orders  of  hay,  oats,  and  straw  for  the  army, 
the  cattle  had  to  be  kept  on  the  meadows — 
pastures  in  the  American  sense  of  the  word  are 
but  rarely  found  in  overcrowded  Europe — and 
that  would  lead  to  a  shortage  in  stable  manure, 
the  most  important  factor  in  soil-fertilizing. 

The  outlook  was  gloomy  enough  and  quite  a 
contrast  to  the  easy  war  spirit  which  still  swayed 
the  city  population. 

Interviews  with  a  goodly  number  of  German 
government  officials  and  men  connected  with 
the  Prussian  Ministry  of  Agriculture  confirmed 
the  impressions  I  had  gained  in  the  course  of 
my  food  investigation.  For  the  time  being, 
there  was  enough  of  everything.  But  that  was 
only  for  the  time  being. 

Public  subsistence  depends  in  a  large  measure 
on  the  products  of  animal  industry.  There  is 
the  dairy,  for  instance.  While  cows  can  live 
on  grass,  they  will  not  give  much  or  good  milk 
if  hay  and  grass  are  not  supplemented  by  fat- 
making  foods.  Of  such  feed  Germany  does  not 
produce  enough,  owing  to  climatic  conditions. 

13 


THE   IRON   RATION 

Indian  corn  will  not  ripen  in  northern  Europe, 
and  cotton  is  out  of  the  question  altogether. 
In  the  past,  Indian  corn  had  been  imported 
from  Hungary,  Roumania,  and  the  United 
States  mostly,  and  cotton-seed  products  had 
been  brought  in  from  the  United  States  also. 
Roumania  still  continued  to  sell  Indian  corn 
during  the  first  months  of  the  war,  but  Great 
Britain  had  put  cotton-seed  cake  and  the  like 
under  the  ban  of  contraband.  If  the  bread- 
basket was  not  as  yet  hung  high,  the  crib  cer- 
tainly began  to  get  very  much  out  of  reach. 

One  day,  then,  I  found  that  every  advertise- 
ment "pillar"  in  the  streets  of  Berlin  called 
loudly  for  two  things — the  taking  of  an  animal 
census  throughout  Prussia,  and  the  advice  that 
as  many  pigs  as  possible  should  be  killed.  Poor 
porkers!  It  was  to  be  wide-open  season  for 
them  soon. 

Gently,  ever  so  gently,  the  Prussian  and  other 
German  state  governments  were  beginning  to 
put  the  screws  on  the  farming  industry — cne 
thing  they  had  nursed  so  well.  No  doubt  the 
thing  hurt.  But  there  was  no  help.  Animal  feed 
was  discovered  to  be  short.  The  authorities 
interfered  with  the  current  of  supply  and  demand 
for  the  first  time.  Feed  Commissions  and  Fod- 
der Centrals  were  established,  and  after  that  the 
farmer  had  to  show  cause  why  he  should  get 
the  amount  of  feed  he  asked  for.  The  innovation 
recoiled  on  the  lowliest  first — among  them  the 
pigs. 

Into  them  and  upon  them  had  been  heaped 

14 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

a  great  deal  of  fat  by  purposeful  feeding  with  an 
ulterior  motive.  The  porkers  stood  well  in  the 
glory  for  which  they  are  intended.  But  the  lack 
of  fattening  feed  would  soon  cause  them  to  live 
more  or  less  on  their  own  stores  of  fat.  That 
had  to  be  prevented,  naturally.  By  many,  a 
butchered  two-hundred-pound  porker  is  thought 
to  be  better  than  a  live  razorback.  The  knife 
began  its  deadly  work — the  slaughter  of  the 
porcine  innocents  was  on. 

To  the  many  strange  cults  and  castes  that 
exist  we  must  add  the  German  village  butcher. 
He  is  busy  only  when  the  pork  "crop"  conies  in, 
but  somehow  he  seems  to  defy  the  law  that  only 
continued  practice  makes  perfect.  He  works 
from  November  to  February  of  each  year,  but 
when  the  next  season  comes  he  is  as  good  as 
before,  seemingly. 

But  in  1914  the  village  butcher  was  busy  at 
the  front.  Thus  it  came  that  men  less  expert 
were  in  charge  of  the  conservation  of  pork  prod- 
ucts. The  result  could  have  been  foreseen,  but 
it  was  not.  The  farmers,  eager  not  to  lose  an 
ounce  of  fat,  and  not  especially  keen  to  feed 
their  home-raised  grain  to  the  animals,  had  their 
pigs  butchered.  That  was  well  enough,  in  a 
way.  But  the  tons  of  sausages  that  were  made, 
and  the  thousands  of  tons  of  pickled  and  smoked 
hams,  shoulders,  sides-of-bacon,  and  what  not, 
had  been  improperly  cured  in  many  cases,  and 
vast  quantities  of  them  began  to  spoil. 

It  was  now  a  case  of  having  no  pigs  and  also 
no  pork. 

15 


THE    IRON    RATION 

The  case  deserves  special  attention  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  the  first  crevasse  that  ap- 
peared in  the  levee  that  was  to  hold  back 
the  high-flood  of  inflated  prices  and  food 
shortage. 

The  affair  of  the  porkers  did  not  leave  the 
German  farmers  in  the  best  frame  of  mind.  They 
had  needlessly  sacrificed  a  goodly  share  of  their 
annual  income.  The  price  of  pork  fell  to  a 
lower  level  than  had  been  known  in  twenty 
years,  and  meanwhile  the  farmer  was  beginning 
to  buy  what  he  needed  in  a  market  that  showed 
sharp  upward  curves.  To  this  wras  being  added 
the  burden  of  war  taxation. 

But  even  that  was  not  all.  Coming  in  close 
contact  with  the  Berlin  authorities,  I  had  been 
able  to  judge  the  quality  of  their  efforts  for  the 
saving  of  food.  I  had  learned,  for  instance,  that 
the  Prussian  and  other  state  governments  never 
intended  to  order  the  killing  of  the  pigs.  The 
most  that  was  done  by  them  was  to  advise  the 
farmers  and  villagers  to  kill  off  all  animals  that 
had  reached  their  maximum  weight  and  whose 
keep  under  the  reduced  ration  system  would 
not  pay. 

Zealous  officials  in  the  provinces  gave  that 
thing  a  different  aspect.  Eager  to  obey  the 
slightest  suggestion  of  those  above,  these  men 
interpreted  the  advice  given  as  an  order  and 
disseminated  it  as  such.  The  farmer  with  sense 
enough  to  question  this  was  generally  told  that 
what  he  would  not  do  on  advice  he  would  later 
be  ordered  to  do. 

16 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

I  was  able  to  ascertain  in  connection  with 
this  subject  that  all  which  is  bad  in  German, 
and  especially  in  Prussian,  government  has 
rarely  its  inception  in  the  higher  places. 
It  is  the  Amtsstube — government  bureau — that 
breeds  the  qualities  for  which  government  in 
the  German  Empire  is  deservedly  odious.  At 
any  ministry  I  would  get  the  very  best  treat- 
ment— far  better,  for  instance,  than  I  should 
hope  to  get  at  any  seat  of  department  at  Wash- 
ington— but  it  was  different  when  I  had  to  deal 
with  some  official  underling. 

This  class,  as  a  rule,  enters  the  government 
service  after  having  been  professional  non-com- 
missioned officers  for  many  years.  By  that  time 
the  man  has  become  so  thoroughly  a  drill  sergeant 
that  his  usefulness  in  other  spheres  of  life  should 
be  considered  as  ended.  Instead  of  that,  the 
German  government  makes  him  an  official.  The 
effect  produced  is  not  a  happy  one. 

It  was  a  member  of  this  tribe  who  once  told 
me  that  I  was  not  to  think.  I  confess  that  I 
did  not  know  whether  to  laugh  or  cry  when  I 
heard  that. 

The  case  has  some  bearing  on  the  subject 
discussed  here,  and  for  that  reason  I  will  refer 
to  it  briefly. 

At  the  American  embassy  at  Berlin  they  had 
put  my  passport  into  proper  shape,  as  they 
thought.  A  Mr.  Harvey  was  positive  that  such 
was  the  case.  But  at  the  border  it  was  found 
that  somebody  was  mistaken.  The  Tenth  Army, 
in  whose  bailiwick  I  found  myself,  had  changed 

17 


THE    IRON    RATION 

the  passport  regulations,  and  the  American  em- 
bassy at  Berlin  seemed  not  to  have  heard  of 
the  change. 

A  very  snappy  sergeant  of  the  border  survey 
service  wanted  to  know  how  I  had  dared  to  travel 
with  an  imperfectly  vis6d  passport.  There  was 
nothing  else  to  say  but  that  I  thought  the  pass- 
port was  in  order. 

"Sie  haben  kein  Recht  zu  denken"  ("You  have 
no  right  to  think"),  snarled  the  man. 

That  remark  stunned  me.  Here  was  a  human 
being  audacious  enough  to  deny  another  human 
being  the  right  to  think.  What  next? 

The  result  of  some  suitable  remarks  of  mine 
were  that  presently  I  was  under  arrest  and  off 
for  an  interview  with  the  Landrat — the  county 
president  at  Bentheim. 

The  Landrat  was  away,  however — hunting,  as 
I  remember  it.  In  his  stead  I  found  a  so-called 
assessor.  I  can  say  for  the  man  that  he  was  the 
most  offensive  government  official  or  employee 
I  have  ever  met.  He  had  not  said  ten  words 
when  that  was  plain  to  me. 

"Ah!  You  thought  the  passport  was  in  order/' 
he  mocked.  "You  thought  so!  Don't  you  know 
that  it  is  dangerous  to  think?" 

There  and  then  my  patience  took  leave  of  me. 
I  made  a  few  remarks  that  left  no  doubt  in  the 
mind  of  the  official  that  I  reserved  for  myself 
the  right  to  think,  whether  that  was  in  Germany 
or  in  Hades. 

Within  a  fortnight  I  was  back  in  Berlin.  I 
am  not  given  to  making  a  mountain  out  of  every 

18 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

little  molehill  I  come  across,  but  I  deemed  it 
necessary  to  bring  the  incident  at  Bentheim 
to  the  attention  of  the  proper  authorities. 

What  I  wanted  to  know  was  this:  Had  the 
race  which  in  the  past  produced  some  of  the 
best  of  thinkers  been  coerced  into  having  thinking 
prohibited  by  an  erstwhile  sergeant  or  a  mensur- 
marked  assessor? 

Of  course,  that  was  not  the  case,  I  was  told. 
The  two  men  had  been  overzealous.  They 
would  be  disciplined.  I  was  not  to  feel  that  I 
had  been  insulted.  An  eager  official  might  use 
that  sort  of  language.  After  all,  what  special 
harm  was  there  in  being  told  not  to  think? 
Both  the  sergeant  and  the  assessor  had  probably 
meant  that  I  was  not  to  surmise,  conclude,  or 
take  things  for  granted. 

But  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  make  myself 
clear.  In  the  end  I  succeeded,  though  recourse 
to  diagrams  and  the  like  seemed  necessary  be- 
fore the  great  light  dawned.  That  the  German 
authorities  had  the  right  to  watch  their  borders 
closely  I  was  the  last  to  gainsay.  Nor  could 
fault  be  found  with  officials  who  discharged  this 
important  duty  with  all  the  thoroughness  at 
their  command.  If  these  officials  felt  inclined 
to  warn  travelers  against  surmise  and  conjecture, 
thanks  were  due  them,  but  these  officials  were 
guilty  of  the  grossest  indecency  in  denying  a 
rational  adult  the  right  to  think. 

Those  who  for  years  have  been  hunting  for 
a  definition  of  militarism  may  consider  that  in 
the  above  they  have  the  best  explanation  of  it. 

19 


THE    IRON    RATION 

The  phrase,  "You  have  no  right  to  think,"  is 
the  very  backbone  of  militarism.  In  times  of 
war  men  may  not  think,  because  militarism  is 
absolute.  For  those  that  are  anti-militarist 
enough  to  continue  thinking  there  is  the  censor- 
ship and  sedition  laws,  both  of  which  worked 
smoothly  enough  in  Germany  and  the  countries 
of  her  allies. 

The  question  may  be  asked,  What  does  this 
have  to  do  with  food  and  such?  Very  much,  is 
my  answer. 

The  class  of  small  officials  was  to  become  the 
machine  by  which  the  production,  distribution, 
and  consumption  of  food  and  necessities  were 
to  be  modified  according  to  the  needs  of  the 
day.  This  class  was  to  stimulate  production, 
simplify  distribution,  and  restrict  consumption. 
No  small  task  for  any  set  of  men,  whether  they 
believed  in  the  God-given  right  of  thinking  or 
not. 

It  was  simple  enough  to  restrict  consumption 
— issue  the  necessary  decrees  with  that  in  view, 
and  later  adopt  measures  of  enforcement.  The 
axiom,  You  have  no  right  to  think,  fitted  that 
case  well  enough.  But  it  was  different  with 
distribution.  To  this  sphere  of  economy  be- 
longs that  ultra-modern  class  of  Germans,  the 
trust  and  Syndikat  member — the  industrial 
and  commercial  kings.  These  men  had  out- 
grown the  inhibitions  of  the  barrack-yard.  The 
Feldwebel  was  a  joke  to  them  now,  and,  un- 
fortunately, their  newly  won  freedom  sat  so 

awkwardly  upon  their  minds  that  often  it  would 

20 


WAR  HITS  THE  LARDER  OF  GERMANY 

slip  off.    The  class  as  a  whole  would  then  attend 
to  the  case,  and  generally  win  out. 

A  similar  state  of  affairs  prevailed  in  production. 
To  order  the  farmer  what  he  was  to  raise  was 
easy,  but  nature  takes  orders  from  nobody,  a 
mighty  official  included. 


II 

WHEN    LORD    MARS    HAD    RULED    THREE    MONTHS 

GERMANY  had  reared  a  magnificent  eco- 
nomic structure.  Her  prosperity  was  great 
—too  great,  in  fact. 

The  country  had  a  nouveau-riche  aspect,  as  will 
happen  when  upon  a  people  that  has  been  content 
with  little  in  the  past  is  suddenly  thrust  more 
than  it  can  assimilate  gracefully.  The  Germany 
I  was  familiar  with  from  travel  and  literature 
was  a  country  in  which  men  and  women  managed 
to  get  along  comfortably  by  the  application  of 
thoroughness  and  industry — a  country  in  which 
much  time  was  given  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
mind  and  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  that  come 
from  this  praiseworthy  habit. 

Those  were  the  things  which  I  had  grouped 
under  the  heading,  Kultur.  Those  also  were 
the  things,  as  I  was  soon  to  learn  from  the 
earnest  men  and  women  of  the  country,  for 
which  the  word  still  stood  with  most.  But  the 
spirit  of  the  parvenu — Protzentum — was  be- 
come rampant.  The  industrial  classes  reeked 
with  it. 

From  the  villages  and  small  towns,  still  the 

22 


WHEN  MARS  HAD  RULED  THREE  MONTHS 

very  embodiment  of  thrift  and  orderliness,  I 
saw  rise  the  large  brick  barracks  of  industry, 
topped  off  with  huge  chimneys  belching  forth 
black  clouds  of  smoke.  The  outskirts  of  the 
larger  towns  and  cities  were  veritable  forests  of 
smoke-stacks — palisades  that  surrounded  the 
interests  of  the  thousands  of  captains  of  industry 
that  dwelt  within  the  city  when  not  frequenting 
the  international  summer  and  winter  resorts  and 
making  themselves  loathed  by  their  extremely 
bad  manners — the  trade-mark  of  all  parvenus. 

I  soon  found  that  there  were  two  separate  and 
distinct  Germanys. 

It  was  not  a  question  of  classes,  but  one  of 
having  within  the  same  borders  two  worlds. 
One  of  them  reminded  me  of  Goethe  and  Schiller, 
of  Kant  and  Hegel,  and  the  other  of  all  that  is 
ultra-modern,  and  cynical.  The  older  of  these 
worlds  was  still  tilling  the  fields  on  the  principle 
that  where  one  takes  one  must  give.  It  was  still 
manufacturing  with  that  honesty  that  is  bet- 
ter than  advertising,  and  selling  for  cost  of  raw 
material  and  labor,  plus  a  reasonable  profit. 

In  the  new  world  it  was  different.  Greed 
was  the  key-note  of  all  and  everything.  The 
kings  of  industry  and  commerce  had  forgotten 
that  in  order  to  live  ourselves  we  must  let  others 
live.  These  men  had  been  wise  enough  to  com- 
pete as  little  as  possible  with  one  another.  Every 
manufacturer  belonged  to  some  Syndikat 
— trust — whose  craze  was  to  capture  by  means 
fair  or  foul  every  foreign  field  that  could  be 
saturated. 

23 


THE    IRON    RATION 

I  have  used  the  word  "saturated5*  on  purpose. 
Germany's  industrials  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
content  with  merely  entering  a  foreign  market 
and  then  supplying  it  with  that  good  tact  which 
makes  the  article  and  its  manufacturer  respected. 
Instead  of  that  they  began  to  dump  their 
wares  into  the  new  field  in  such  masses  that 
soon  there  was  attached  to  really  good  mer- 
chandise the  stigma  of  cheapness  in  price  and 
quality.  A  proper  sense  of  proportions  would 
have  prevented  this.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
German  manufacturers  and  exporters  had  to 
undersell  foreign  competitors,  nor  can  any  rea- 
sonable human  being  find  fault  with  this,  but 
that,  for  the  sake  of  "hogging"  markets,  they 
should  turn  to  cheap  peddling  was  nothing  short 
of  being  criminally  stupid — a  national  calamity. 

I  have  yet  to  be  convinced  that  Germany 
would  not  have  been  equally  prosperous — and 
that  in  a  better  sense — had  its  industry  been 
less  subservient  to  the  desire  to  capture  as  many 
of  the  world's  markets  as  possible.  That  policy 
would  have  led  to  getting  better  prices,  so  that 
the  national  income  from  this  source  would  have 
been  just  as  great,  if  not  greater,  when  raw 
material  and  labor  are  given  their  proper  socio- 
economic  value. 

Some  manufacturers  had  indeed  clung  to  that 
policy — of  which  the  old  warehouses  and  their 
counting-rooms  along  the  Weser  in  Bremen  are 
truly  and  beautifully  emblematic.  But  most  of 
them  were  seized  with  a  mania  for  volume  in 
export  and  ever-growing  personal  wealth. 

24 


WHEN  MARS  HAD  RULED  THREE  MONTHS 

Germany's  population  had  failed  to  get  its 
share  of  this  wealth.  Though  the  Arbeiter- 
Verbdnde — unions — had  seen  to  it  that  the 
workers  were  not  entirely  ignored,  it  was  a  fact 
that  a  large  class  was  living  in  that  peculiar  sort 
of  misery  which  comes  from  being  the  chattel 
of  the  state,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  beast  of 
burden  of  the  captains  of  industry,  on  the  other. 
The  government  has  indeed  provided  sick  bene- 
fits and  old-age  pensions,  but  these,  in  effect, 
were  little  more  than  a  promise  that  when  the 
man  was  worked  to  the  bone  he  would  still  be 
able  to  drag  on  existence.  The  several  institu- 
tions of  governmental  paternalism  in  Germany 
are  what  heaven  is  to  the  livelong  invalid. 
And  to  me  it  seems  that  there  is  no  necessity 
for  being  bedridden  through  life  when  the 
physician  is  able  to  cure.  In  this  instance,  we 
must  doubt  that  the  physician  was  willing  to 
cure. 

The  good  idealists  who  may  differ  with  me 
on  that  point  have  probably  never  had  the 
chance  to  study  at  the  closest  range  the  sinister 
purpose  that  lies  behind  all  governmental  effort 
that  occupies  itself  with  the  welfare  of  the  in- 
dividual. The  sphere  of  a  government  should 
begin  and  end  with  the  care  for  the  aggregate. 
The  government  that  must  care  for  the  in- 
dividual has  no  raison  d'etre,  and  the  same  must 
be  said  of  the  individual  who  needs  such  care. 
One  should  be  permitted  to  perish  with  the  other. 

The  deeper  I  got  into  this  New  Germany, 
the  less  I  was  favorably  impressed  by  it.  I 

25 


THE    IRON    RATION 

soon  found  that  the  greed  manifested  had  led 
to  results  highly  detrimental  to  the  race.  The 
working  classes  of  the  large  industrial  centers 
were  well  housed  and  well  fed,  indeed.  But  it 
was  a  barrack  life  they  led.  At  best  the  income 
was  small,  and  usually  it  was  all  spent,  especially 
if  a  man  wanted  to  do  his  best  by  his  children. 
It  was  indeed  true  that  the  deposits  in  the 
German  savings-banks  were  unusually  high,  but 
investigation  showed  that  the  depositors  were 
mostly  small  business  people  and  farmers.  These 
alone  had  both  the  incentive  and  the  chance  to 
save.  For  all  others,  be  they  the  employees  of 
the  government  or  the  workers  of  industry,  the 
sick  benefit  and  old-age  pension  had  to  provide 
if  they  were  not  to  become  public  charges  when 
usefulness  should  have  come  to  an  end. 

I  found  that  Germany's  magnificent  socio- 
economic  edifice  was  inhabited  mostly  by  mem- 
bers of  the  parvenu  class,  by  men  and  women 
who  dressed  in  bad  taste,  talked  too  much  and 
too  loud,  and  were  forever  painfully  in  evidence. 

For  the  purpose  of  illustrating  the  relative 
position  of  the  two  worlds  I  found  in  Germany, 
I  may  use  the  simile  that  the  new  world  in- 
habited all  the  better  floors,  while  the  old  was 
content  with  the  cellar  and  the  attic.  In  the 
cellar  lived  the  actual  producers,  and  in  the 
garret  the  intellectuals,  poor  aristocracy,  govern- 
ment officials,  professional  men,  and  army 
officers. 

Food  being  the  thing  everybody  needs,  and, 
which  needing,  he  or  she  must  have  at  any 

26 


WHEN  MARS  HAD  RULED  THREE  MONTHS 

price,  the  men  who  in  the  past  had  "saturated" 
foreign  markets  turned  of  a  sudden  their  atten- 
tion to  matters  at  home.  The  British  blockade 
had  made  exports  impossible.  The  overseas 
channel  of  income  was  closed.  Exploitation 
had  to  be  directed  into  other  fields. 

The  German  government  saw  this  coming, 
and,  under  the  plea  of  military  necessity,  which 
really  existed,  of  course,  began  to  apply  a  policy 
of  restriction  in  railroad  traffic.  More  will  be 
said  of  this  elsewhere.  Here  I  will  state  that 
from  the  very  first  military  emergency  was  well 
merged  with  socio-economic  exigency. 

The  high  priest  of  greed  found  that  the 
government,  by  virtue  of  being  the  owner  of 
the  railroads,  was  putting  a  damper  on  the  con- 
centration of  life's  necessities  and  commodities. 
But  that,  after  all,  was  not  a  serious  matter. 
So  long  as  the  food  shark  and  commodity -grab- 
ber owned  an  article  he  would  always  find  the 
means  to  make  the  public  pay  for  it.  Whether 
he  sold  a  thing  in  Cologne,  Hanover,  Berlin, 
or  Stettin  made  little  difference  in  the  end,  so 
long  as  prices  were  good.  All  that  was  necessary 
was  to  establish  a  Filiale — a  branch  house — 
at  the  point  and  all  was  well. 

But  as  yet  there  was  no  actual  shortage. 
Things  were  only  beginning  to  be  scarce  at  times 
and  intervals. 

The  population  had  begun  to  save  food.  The 
counters  and  shelves  of  the  retailers  were  still 
full,  and  the  warehouses  of  the  wholesalers  had 
just  received  the  harvest  of  the  year. 

27 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Hoarding  had  as  yet  not  been  thought  of  to 
any  extent.  Germany  had  not  been  at  war  for 
forty-three  years,  and  normally  the  food-supply 
had  been  so  generous  that  only  a  few  pessimists, 
who  saw  a  long  war  ahead,  thought  it  necessary 
to  store  up  food  for  the  future. 

It  was  not  until  the  fourth  month  of  the  war 
that  prices  of  food  showed  a  steady  upward 
tendency.  That  this  should  be  so  was  not 
difficult  to  understand,  and  the  explanation  of 
the  authorities  appeared  very  plausible  indeed. 
Whenever  the  possibility  of  a  shortage  had  at 
all  to  be  intimated,  the  government  took  good 
care  to  balance  its  statement  with  the  assertion 
that  if  everybody  did  what  was  fit  and  proper 
under  the  circumstances  there  would  never  be 
a  shortage.  If  people  ate  war-bread,  a  lack  of 
breadstuffs  was  said  to  be  out  of  the  question. 

That  was  very  reassuring,  of  course.  Not  a 
little  camouflage  was  used  by  the  merchants.  I 
never  saw  so  much  food  heaped  into  store  win- 
dows as  in  those  days.  On  my  way  back  and 
forth  from  my  hotel  to  the  office  of  the  service, 
I  had  to  pass  through  the  Mauerstrasse.  In 
that  street  four  food-venders  outdid  one  another 
in  heaping  their  merchandise  before  the  public 
gaze.  One  of  them  was  a  butcher.  His  window 
was  large  and  afforded  room  for  almost  a  ton 
of  meat  products. 

I  do  not  wonder  that  those  who  passed  the 
window — and  they  had  to  be  counted  in  thou- 
sands— gained  from  it  the  impression  that  food 
would  never  be  scarce  in  Germany.  Farther 

28 


WHEN  MARS  HAD  RULED  THREE  MONTHS 

on  there  was  another  meat-shop.  Its  owner  did 
the  same.  Next  door  to  him  was  a  bakery. 
War-bread  and  rolls,  cakes  and  pastry  enough 
to  feed  a  brigade,  were  constantly  on  exhibition. 
The  fourth  store  sold  groceries  and  what  is 
known  in  Germany  as  Dauerware — food  that 
has  been  preserved,  such  as  smoked  meat, 
sausages,  and  canned  foods.  The  man  was 
really  doing  his  best.  For  a  while  he  had  as  his 
"set  piece"  a  huge  German  eagle  formed  of 
cervelat  sausages  each  four  feet  long  and  as 
thick  as  the  club  of  Hercules.  I  thought  the 
things  had  been  made  of  papier-mache,  but  found 
that  they  were  real  enough. 

But  camouflage  of  that  sort  has  its  good  pur- 
poses. Men  are  never  so  hungry  as  when  they 
know  that  food  is  scarce. 

The  several  state  governments  of  Germany 
employ  the  ablest  economic  experts  in  the  world. 
These  men  knew  that  in  the  end  show  would 
not  do.  The  substance  would  then  be  demanded 
and  would  have  to  be  produced  if  trouble  was 
to  be  avoided.  How  to  proceed  was  not  a  simple 
matter,  however.  From  the  food  of  the  nation 
had  to  come  the  revenue  of  the  government 
and  the  cost  of  the  war.  This  had  to  be  kept 
in  mind. 

The  assertions  of  the  Entente  press  that  Ger- 
many would  be  starved  into  submission  within 
six  months  had  been  amply  ridiculed  in  the 
German  newspapers.  That  was  all  very  well. 
Everybody  knew  that  it  could  not  be  done  in 
six  months,  and  my  first  survey  of  the  food  situ- 

29 


THE    IRON   RATION 

ation  proved  that  it  could  not  be  done  in  a  year. 
But  what  if  the  war  lasted  longer?  Nothing 
had  come  of  the  rush  on  Paris.  Hindenburg 
had  indeed  given  the  Russians  a  thorough  mili- 
tary lesson  at  Tannenberg.  But  this  and  cer- 
tain successes  on  the  West  Front  were  not  de- 
cisive, as  everybody  began  to  understand.  The 
Russians,  moreover,  were  making  much  headway 
in  Galicia,  and  so  far  the  Austro-Hungarian 
army  had  made  but  the  poorest  of  showings — 
even  against  the  Serbs. 

Thus  it  came  that  the  replies  in  the  German 
press  to  the  Entente  famine  program  caused  the 
German  public  to  take  a  greater  interest  in 
the  food  question.  Propaganda  and  the  applica- 
tion of  ridicule  have  their  value,  but  also  their 
drawbacks.  They  are  never  shell-proof  so  far 
as  the  thinker  is  concerned,  and  ultimately  will 
weaken  rather  than  strengthen  the  very  thing 
they  are  intended  to  defend. 

"Qui  s' excuse  s*  accuse"  say  the  French. 

The  Prussian  government  inaugurated  a  cam- 
paign against  the  waste  of  food  as  associated 
with  the  garbage-pail.  Hereafter  all  household 
offal  had  to  be  separated  into  food-remains  and 
rubbish.  Food-leavings,  potato  peels,  fruit  skins, 
the  unused  parts  of  vegetables,  and  the  like, 
were  to  be  used  as  animal  feed. 

A  week  after  the  regulations  had  been  pro- 
mulgated and  enforced,  I  took  a  census  of  the 
results  obtained.  These  were  generous  enough 
and  showed  that  as  yet  the  Berliners  at  least  were 
not  stinting  very  much,  despite  the  war-bread. 

30 


WHEN  MARS  HAD  RULED  THREE  MONTHS 

About  the  same  time  I  was  able  to  ascertain 
that  in  the  rural  districts  of  Germany  little 
economy  of  any  sort  was  being  practised  so 
far,  though  the  establishing  by  the  government 
of  Fodder  Centrals  was  warning  enough.  The 
farmers  sat  at  the  very  fountain-head  of  all  food 
and  pleased  themselves,  wasting  meanwhile 
much  of  their  substance  by  sending  to  their 
relatives  at  the  front  a  great  deal  of  food  which 
the  men  were  in  no  need  of.  The  German 
soldier  was  well  fed  and  all  food  sent  to  him 
was  generally  so  much  waste.  It  was  somewhat 
odd  that  the  government  should  not  only  permit 
this  practice,  but  actually  encourage  it.  But 
the  authorities  knew  as  little  yet  of  food  con- 
servation as  did  the  populace. 

So  far  the  traffic  incident  to  supplying  large 
population  centers  with  food  had  moved  within 
its  regular  channels,  the  interference  due  to  the 
mobilization  duly  discounted,  of  course.  The 
ability  of  the  Germans  as  organizers  had  even 
overcome  that  to  quite  an  extent.  There  were 
delays  now  and  then,  but  the  reserve  stores  in 
the  cities  counteracted  them  as  yet. 

Normally,  all  men  eat  too  much.  The  Ger- 
mans were  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception 
in  this  respect.  Most  men  weighed  anything 
from  twenty  to  sixty  pounds  more  than  they 
should,  and  the  women  also  suffered  much  in 
appearance  and  health  from  obesity.  The  parvenu 
class,  especially,  was  noted  for  that.  The  German 
aristocrat  is  hardly  ever  stout — hall-mark  of  the 
fact  that  he  knows  how  to  curb  his  appetites. 

31 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Before  the  war  most  Germans  ate  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner: 

Coffee  and  rolls  early  in  the  morning.  A  sort 
of  breakfast  about  nine  o'clock.  Luncheon  be- 
tween twelve  and  one.  Coffee  or  tea  at  about 
four  in  the  afternoon.  Dinner  at  from  seven  to 
eight,  and  supper  at  eleven  or  twelve  was  nothing 
unusual.  That  made  in  many  cases  six  meals, 
and  these  meals  were  not  light  by  any  means. 
They  included  meat  twice  for  even  the  poorer 
classes  in  the  city. 

Six  meals  as  against  three  do  not  necessarily 
mean  that  people  addicted  to  the  habit  eat 
twice  as  much  as  those  who  are  satisfied  with 
sitting  at  table  thrice  each  day.  But  they  do 
mean  that  at  least  35  per  cent,  of  the  food  is 
wasted.  Oversaturated,  the  alimentary  system 
refuses  to  work  properly.  It  will  still  assimilate 
those  food  elements  that  are  the  more  easily 
absorbed,  which  then  produce  fat,  while  the 
really  valuable  constituents  are  generally  elimi- 
nated without  having  produced  the  effect  that 
is  the  purpose  of  proper  diet. 

It  was  really  remarkable  to  what  extent  in 
this  case  an  indulgence  became  a  reserve  upon 
which  the  German  government  could  draw.  A 
good  35  per  cent,  of  all  food  consumed  need  not 
be  consumed  and  would  to  that  measure  in- 
crease the  means  of  public  subsistence  available. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  enemies  of 
Germany  overlooked  this  fact  in  the  computa- 
tion of  elements  adduced  to  show  that,  within 
six  months  from  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  famine 

32 


WHEN  MARS  HAD  RULED  THREE  MONTHS 

would  stalk  the  land.  The  Entente  economists 
and  politicians  counted  on  actual  production 
and  consumption  in  times  of  peace  and  failed 
to  realize  that  a  determined  people,  whose  com- 
plete discipline  lacked  but  this  one  thing — 
economy  in  eating — would  soon  acquire  the 
mind  of  the  ascetic. 

It  was  not  easy  to  forego  the  pleasures  of  the 
full  stomach,  since  in  the  past  it  had  generally 
been  overfilled.  But,  as  the  Germans  say, 
"When  in  need,  the  devil  will  eat  flies." 

Upon  this  subject  the  Prussian  and  other 
German  state  governments  concentrated  all 
their  efforts  in  November  of  1914.  A  thousand 
methods  of  propaganda  were  used.  "Eat  less,*' 
was  the  advice  that  resounded  through  the 
empire.  I  do  not  think  that,  unsustained  by 
government  action,  the  admonition  would  have 
helped  much  in  the  long  run,  though  for  the  time 
being  it  was  heeded  by  many.  It  was  the  fact 
that  the  end  of  the  war  seemed  not  so  imminent 
any  longer  which  furnished  the  causa  movens 
for  the  saving  of  food.  The  war  spirit  was  still 
very  strong  and  the  Germans  began  to  resent 
the  assertion  of  their  enemies  that  they  would 
be  defeated  by  their  stomachs,  as  some  learned 
university  professors  insisted  at  the  time.  Not 
the  least  value  of  the  propaganda  was  that  it 
prepared  the  German  public  for  the  sweeping 
changes  in  food  distribution  which  were  to  come 
before  long. 


in 

THE  MIGHTY  WAR  PURVEYOR 


months  had  sufficed  to  enthrone 
•••  the  Kriegslieferant  —  war  purveyor.  He  was 
ubiquitous  and  loud.  His  haying  season  was 
come.  For  a  consumer  he  had  a  government 
that  could  not  buy  enough,  and  the  things  he 
sold  he  took  from  a  public  that  was  truly  patri- 
otic and  willing  to  make  sacrifices.  It  was  a 
gay  time.  Gone  were  the  days  in  which  he  had 
to  worry  over  foreign  markets,  small  profits, 
and  large  turnover.  He  dealt  no  longer  with 
fractions  of  cents.  Contracts  for  thousands 
did  not  interest  him.  At  the  Ministry  of  War 
he  could  pick  up  bits  of  business  that  figured 
with  round  millions. 

I  attended  once  a  funeral  that  was  presided 
over  by  an  undertaker  who  believed  in  doing 
things  on  a  large  scale.  The  man  in  the  coffin 
had  always  earned  a  large  salary  and  the  family 
had  lived  up  to  it.  There  was  nothing  left 
when  he  died.  But  the  undertaker  and  the  widow 
decided  that  the  funeral  should  be  a  large  one. 
It  was,  and  when  it  was  over  and  paid  for  the 
woman  was  obliged  to  appeal  to  her  relatives 

34 


THE    MIGHTY    WAR    PURVEYOR 

for  financial  aid.  The  activity  of  the  war  pur- 
veyor was  of  the  same  quality. 

The  Berlin  hotels  were  doing  a  land-office 
business.  The  Adlon,  Bristol,  Kaiserhof,  and 
Esplanade  hotels  were  crowded  to  the  attic — 
with  war  purveyors.  When  his  groups  were  not 
locked  up  in  conference,  he  could  be  seen  strut- 
ting about  the  halls  and  foyers  with  importance 
radiating  from  him  like  the  light  of  an  electric 
arc.  In  the  dining-rooms  his  eating  could  be 
heard  when  his  voice  was  not  raised  in  vociferous 
ordering  in  the  best  drill-sergeant  style.  Mana- 
gers and  waiters  alike  danced  attention  upon 
him — the  establishment,  the  city,  the  country 
were  his. 

"Wir  machen's"  ("We'll  do  it"),  was  his 
parole.  The  army  might  do  its  share,  but  in  the 
end  the  war  purveyor  would  win  the  war. 

The  express  in  which  I  was  traveling  from 
Osnabriick  to  Berlin  had  pulled  up  in  the  station 
of  Hanover.  The  train  was  crowded  and  in 
my  compartment  sat  three  war  purveyors,  who 
seemed  to  be  members  of  the  same  group, 
despite  the  fact  that  their  conversation  caused 
me  to  believe  that  they  were  holding  anything 
from  a  million  tons  of  hay  to  a  thousand  army 
transport-wagons.  Business  was  good  and  the 
trio  was  in  good  humor,  as  was  to  be  expected 
from  men  of  such  generous  dimensions  and  with 
so  many  diamonds  on  the  fleshy  fingers  of  ill- 
kept  hands.  One  of  them  was  the  conspicuous 
owner  of  a  stick-pin  crowned  with  a  Kimberley 
that  weighed  five  carats  if  not  more.  He  was 

35 


THE    IRON    RATION 

one  of  the  happiest  men  I  have  ever  laid  eyes 
upon. 

I  was  sitting  next  to  the  window,  a  place  that 
had  been  surrendered  to  me  because  there  was 
a  draught  from  the  window.  But  I  can  stand 
such  discomfort  much  better  than  perfume  on  a 
fat  man,  and  I  didn't  mind. 

After  a  while  my  attention  was  attracted  by 
a  tall  young  woman  in  black  on  the  platform. 
She  was  talking  to  somebody  on  my  car,  and 
surreptitious  passes  of  her  hand  to  her  throat 
caused  me  to  conclude  that  some  great  emotion 
had  seized  her.  No  doubt  she  was  saying  good- 
by  to  somebody. 

I  had  seen  that  a  thousand  times  before,  so 
that  it  could  not  be  mere  and  superficial  curiosity 
that  induced  me  to  leave  my  seat  for  the  pur- 
pose of  seeing  the  other  actor  in  this  little 
drama.  The  woman  was  unusually  handsome, 
and  the  manner  in  which  she  controlled  her  great 
emotion  showed  that  she  was  a  blue-blood  of  the 
best  brand.  I  was  anxious  to  learn  what  sort 
of  man  it  was  upon  whom  this  woman  bestowed 
so  much  of  her  devotion. 

A  tall  officer  was  leaning  against  the  half- 
open  window  in  the  next  compartment.  I  could 
not  see  his  face.  But  the  cut  of  his  back  and 
shoulders  and  the  silhouette  of  the  head  pro- 
claimed his  quality. 

The  two  seemed  to  have  no  words.  The  woman 
was  looking  into  the  face  of  the  man,  and  he,  to 
judge  by  the  fixed  poise  of  his  head,  was  looking 
into  hers. 

36 


THE    MIGHTY   WAR   PURVEYOR 

I  had  seen  enough  and  returned  to  the  compart- 
ment. Presently  the  conductor's  cry  of  "Bitte, 
einsteigen!"  ("Please!  All  aboard!")  was  heard. 
The  woman  stepped  to  the  side  of  the  car  and 
raised  her  right  hand,  which  the  officer  kissed. 
She  said  something  which  I  could  not  hear. 
Then  she  set  her  lips  again,  while  the  muscles  of 
her  cheek  and  throat  moved  in  agony.  It  was 
a  parting  dramatic — perhaps  the  last. 

The  train  began  to  move.  The  war  purveyor 
opposite  me  now  saw  the  woman.  He  nudged 
his  colleague  and  drew  his  attention  to  the  ob- 
ject that  had  attracted  him. 

"A  queen!'*  he  said.  "I  wonder  what  she 
looks  like  in  her  boudoir.  I  am  sorry  that  I 
did  not  see  her  before.  Might  have  stayed  over 
and  seen  her  home.'* 

"Would  have  been  worth  while,"  said  the 
other.  "I  wonder  whom  she  saw  off." 

"From  the  way  she  takes  it  I  should  say  that 
it  was  somebody  she  cares  for.  Class,  eh,  what?" 

The  man  rose  from  the  seat  and  pressed  his 
face  against  the  window,  though  he  could  see  no 
more  of  the  woman  in  that  manner  than  he  had 
seen  before. 

I  think  that  is  the  very  extreme  to  which  I 
ever  saw  hideously  vulgar  cynicism  carried. 

In  a  way  I  regretted  that  the  war  purveyor 
had  not  been  given  the  chance  to  stay  over. 
I  am  sure  that  he  would  have  had  reason  to 
regret  his  enterprise. 

A  few  days  later  I  was  on  my  way  to  Vienna, 

glad  to  get  away  from  the  loud-mouthed  war 
4  37 


THE    IRON    RATION 

purveyors  at  the  German  capital.  The  ilk  was 
multiplying  like  flies  in  summer-time,  and  there 
was  no  place  it  had  not  invaded. 

Though  it  was  really  not  one  of  my  affairs, 
the  war  purveyor  had  come  to  irritate  me.  I 
was  able  to  identify  him  a  mile  off,  and  good- 
natured  friends  of  mine  seemed  to  have  made  it 
their  purpose  in  life  to  introduce  me  to  men 
who  invariably  turned  out  to  have  contracts 
with  the  government.  Fact  is  that,  while  the 
war  was  great,  the  Kriegslieferant  was  greater. 
When  I  found  it  hard  to  see  a  high  official,  some 
kind  friend  would  always  suggest  that  I  take 
the  matter  up  with  Herr  Kommerzienrat  So- 
and-so,  whose  influence  was  great  with  the 
authorities,  seeing  that  he  had  just  made  a 
contract  for  ever  so  many  millions. 

And  the  "commercial  counselor"  would  be 
willing,  I  knew.  If  he  could  introduce  a  foreign 
correspondent  of  some  standing  here  and  there, 
that  would  be  water  for  his  mill.  The  official 
in  question  might  be  interested  in  propaganda, 
and  the  war  purveyor  was  bound  to  be.  The 
inference  was  that  the  cause  of  Germany  could 
be  promoted  in  that  manner.  In  some  cases  it 
was.  Now  and  then  the  war  purveyor  would 
spend  money  on  a  dinner  to  foreign  and  native 
correspondents.  His  name  would  not  appear 
in  the  despatches,  but  the  Kriegslieferant  saw 
to  it  that  the  authorities  learned  of  his  activities. 
After  that  the  margin  of  profit  on  contract 
might  go  up. 

For  a  man  who  had  conceived  a  violent  prej- 


udice  against  war  purveyors,  Berlin  was  not  a 
comfortable  place. 

I  was  either  playing  in  bad  luck  or  half  the 
world  had  turned  into  war  purveyors.  At  any 
rate,  I  had  one  of  them  as  travel  companion 
en  route  to  Vienna.  The  man  dealt  in  leather. 
He  had  a  contract  for  the  material  of  120,000 
pairs  of  army  boots  and  was  now  going  to 
Austria  and  Hungary  for  the  purpose  of  buying 
it.  He  was  a  most  interesting  person.  Before 
the  war  he  had  dealt  in  skins  for  gloves,  but  now 
he  had  taken  to  a  related  branch  in  order  that 
he  might  "do  his  bit."  The  Fatherland,  in  its 
hour  of  need,  depended  upon  the  efforts  of  its 
sons.  So  far  as  he  was  concerned  no  stone 
would  be  left  unturned  to  secure  victory.  He 
could  be  home  attending  to  his  regular  business, 
instead  of  racing  hither  and  thither  in  search  of 
leather.  But  duty  was  duty. 

I  might  have  gotten  the  man  to  admit  that 
he  made  a  small  profit  on  his  patriotic  endeavor. 
But  that  could  serve  no  purpose.  I  feared, 
moreover,  that  this  would  needlessly  prolong 
the  conversation.  When  the  war  purveyor 
finally  tired  of  my  inattention,  he  took  up  his 
papers  and  I  surveyed  the  country  we  were 
passing  through. 

For  the  finest  rural  pictures  in  Central  Europe 
we  must  go  to  Austria.  The  houses  of  the 
peasants,  in  villages  and  on  farms  alike,  had  a 
very  inviting  appearance.  I  noticed  that  the 
walls  had  been  newly  whitewashed.  There  was 
fresh  paint  on  the  window  shutters,  and  new 

39 


THE    IRON   RATION 

tiles  among  the  old  showed  that  the  people 
were  keeping  their  roofs  in  good  repair,  which 
was  more  than  the  government  was  doing  with 
the  state  edifice  just  then.  Prosperity  still 
laughed  everywhere. 

The  train  raced  through  small  towns  and  vil- 
lages. At  the  railroad  crossings  chubby  young- 
sters off  for  school  were  being  detained  by  the 
gateman.  A  buxom  lass  was  chasing  geese  around 
a  yard.  Elsewhere  a  man  was  sawing  wood, 
while  a  woman  looked  on.  From  the  chimneys 
curled  skyward  the  smoke  of  the  hearth. 

It  was  hard  to  believe  that  the  country  was 
at  war.  But  the  groups  of  men  in  uniform  at  the 
stations,  and  the  recruits  and  reservists  herded 
in  by  men-at-arms  over  the  country  roads,  left 
no  doubt  as  to  that.  If  this  had  not  been  suffi- 
cient proof  for  me,  there  was  the  war  purveyor. 

In  Austria,  as  well  as  in  Germany,  the  fields 
had  had  the  closest  attention.  And  that  atten- 
tion was  kind.  Exploitation  had  no  room  in  it. 
Though  it  was  late  in  the  season,  I  could  still 
discern  that  plowing  and  fertilizing  were  most 
carefully  done.  The  hedges  and  fences  were  in 
good  repair.  In  vain  did  I  look  for  the  herald 
of  slovenly  farming — the  rusty  plow  in  the  field, 
left  where  the  animals  had  been  taken  from 
under  the  yoke.  Orderliness  was  in  evidence 
everywhere,  and,  therefore,  human  happiness 
could  not  be  absent. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  crop  traffic  on  the 
good  roads,  and  the  many  water-mills  seemed 

very  busy.    Potatoes  and  sugar-beets  were  being 

40 


THE    MIGHTY    WAR   PURVEYOR 

gathered  to  add  their  munificence  to  the  great 
grain-  and  hay-stacks.  I  ran  over  in  mind  some 
population  and  farm-production  statistics  and 
concluded  that  Austria  was  indeed  lucky  in 
having  so  large  a  margin  of  food  production  over 
food  consumption. 

What  I  had  settled  to  my  own  satisfaction  on 
the  train  was  seemingly  confirmed  at  Vienna. 
Not  even  a  trace  of  food  shortness  could  I  find 
there.  There  had  been  a  slight  increase  in  food 
prices,  but  this  was  a  negligible  quantity  in 
times  such  as  these. 

The  Vienna  restaurants  and  caf6s  were  serving 
wheat  bread,  butter,  and  cream  as  before.  In 
a  single  place  I  identified  as  many  as  thirty- 
seven  different  varieties  of  cakes  and  pastry. 
Everybody  was  drinking  coffee  with  whipped 
cream — Kaffee  mit  Obers — and  nobody  gave 
food  conservation  a  thought.  While  the  Berlin 
bills  of  fare  had  been  generous,  to  say  the  least, 
those  of  Vienna  were  nothing  short  of  wasteful. 
Even  that  of  the  well-known  Hardman  emporium 
on  the  Karntner  Ring,  not  an  extravagant  place 
by  any  means,  enumerated  no  less  than  one 
hundred  and  forty-seven  separate  items  a  la  carte. 

I  thought  of  the  elephant  steak  and  marveled 
at  the  imagination  of  some  people.  It  seemed 
that  in  Austria  such  titbits  were  a  long  way  off. 
A  melee  of  Viennese  cooking,  Austrian  wine, 
and  Hungarian  music  would  have  left  anybody 
under  that  impression. 

But  all  is  not  gold  that  glitters ! 

At  the  hotel  where  I  was  staying,  a  small 

41 


THE   IRON   RATION 

army  of  German  food-buyers  was  lodged.  From 
some  of  them  I  learned  what  food  conditions  in 
Germany  might  be  a  year  hence.  These  men 
were  familiar  with  the  needs  of  their  country, 
and  thought  it  out  of  place  to  be  optimistic. 
The  drain  on  farm  labor  and  the  shortage  of 
fertilizer  were  the  things  they  feared  most. 
They  were  buying  right  and  left  at  almost  any 
price,  and  others  were  doing  the  same  thing  in 
Hungary,  I  was  informed. 

These  men  were  not  strictly  war  purveyors. 
Most  of  them  bought  supplies  for  the  regular 
channels  of  trade,  but  they  were  buying  in  a 
manner  that  was  bound  to  lead  to  high  prices. 
It  was  a  question  of  getting  quantities,  and  if 
these  could  not  be  had  at  one  price  they  had 
to  be  bought  at  a  higher. 

Within  two  days  I  had  established  that  the 
war  purveyors  at  Vienna  were  more  rapacious 
than  those  at  Berlin.  But  I  will  say  for  them 
that  they  had  better  manners  in  public  places. 
They  were  not  so  loud — a  fact  which  helped 
them  greatly  in  business,  I  think.  Personally,  I 
prefer  the  polished  Shylock  to  the  loutish  glut- 
ton. It  is  a  weakness  that  has  cost  me  a  little 
money  now  and  then,  but,  like  so  many  of  our 
weaknesses,  it  goes  to  make  up  polite  life. 

Vienna's  hotels  were  full  of  Kriegsliefer- 
anten.  The  portiers  and  waiters  addressed  them 
as  "Baron"  and  "Graf"  (count),  and  for  this 
bestowal  of  letters-patent  nobility  were  re- 
warded with  truly  regal  tips.  But  there  the 
matter  ended. 

42 


THE    MIGHTY    WAR    PURVEYOR 

I  was  holding  converse  with  the  portier  of  the 
Hotel  Bristol  when  a  war  purveyor  came  up 
and  wanted  to  know  whether  telegrams  had 
arrived  for  him — the  war  purveyor  never  uses 
the  mail. 

"Nein,  Herr  Graf,"  replied  the  portier. 

The  war  purveyor  seemed  inclined  to  blame 
the  portier  for  this.  After  some  remarks,  alleg- 
ing slovenliness  on  the  part  of  somebody  and 
everybody  in  so  impersonal  a  manner  that  even 
I  felt  guilty,  he  turned  away. 

The  portier — I  had  known  him  a  day — seemed 
to  place  much  confidence  in  me,  despite  the  fact 
that  so  far  he  had  not  seen  the  color  of  my 
money. 

"That  fellow  ought  to  be  hung!"  he  said,  as 
he  looked  at  the  revolving  door  that  was  spin- 
ning madly  under  the  impulse  which  the  wrath- 
ful war  purveyor  had  given  it.  "He  is  a  pig!" 

"But  how  could  a  count  be  a  pig?"  I  asked, 
playfully. 

"He  isn't  a  count  at  all,"  was  the  portier's 
remark.  "You  see,  that  is  a  habit  we  easy- 
going Viennese  have.  The  fellow  has  engaged 
one  of  our  best  suites  and  the  title  of  count 
goes  with  that.  It  may  interest  you  to  know 
that  years  ago  the  same  suite  was  occupied  by 
Prince  Bismarck." 

There  is  no  reason  why  in  tradition-loving 
and  nobility-adoring  Austria  the  title  of  count 
should  not  thereafter  attach  to  any  person 
occupying  a  suite  of  rooms  so  honored.  For 
all  that,  it  is  a  peculiar  mentality  that  makes 

43 


THE    IRON   RATION 

an  honorary  count  an  animal  of  uncleanly  habits 
within  the  space  of  a  few  seconds. 

The  Grand  Hotel  was  really  the  citadel  of 
the  Austro-Hungarian  war  purveyors.  Every 
room  was  taken  by  them,  and  the  splendid 
dining-room  of  the  establishment  was  crammed 
with  them  during  meal-hours.  Dinner  was  a 
grandiose  affair.  The  Kriegslieferanten  were  in 
dinner  coats  and  bulging  shirt-fronts,  and  the 
ladies  wore  all  their  jewels.  Two  of  the  war- 
purveyor  couples  were  naturalized  Americans, 
and  one  of  them  picked  me  up  before  I  knew 
what  had  happened. 

While  I  was  in  Vienna  I  was  to  be  their  guest. 
It  seems  that  the  man  had  made  a  contract 
with  the  Austrian  Ministry  of  War  for  ever  so 
many  thousands  of  tons  of  canned  meat.  He 
thought  that  his  friends  "back  home"  might  be 
interested  in  that,  and  that  there  was  no  better 
way  of  having  the  news  broken  to  them  than 
by  means  of  a  despatch  to  my  service.  There 
is  no  doubt  whatever  that  being  a  war  purveyor 
robs  a  man  of  his  sense  of  proportions. 

To  see  the  Vienna  war  purveyor  at  his  best 
it  was  necessary  to  wait  until  midnight  and 
visit  the  haunts  he  frequented,  such  as  the 
Femina,  Trocadero,  Chapeau  Rouge,  Cafe*  Capua, 
and  Carlton  cabarets.  Vienna's  demi-monde 
never  knew  such  spenders.  The  memory  of 
certain  harebrained  American  tourists  faded  into 
nothingness.  Champagne  flowed  in  rivers,  and 
the  hothouses  were  unable  to  meet  the  demand 
for  flowers — at  last  one  shortage.  The  gipsy 

44 


THE   MIGHTY   WAR   PURVEYOR 

fiddlers  took  nothing  less  than  five  crowns,  and 
the  waiters  called  it  a  poor  evening  when  the 
tips  fell  below  what  formerly  they  had  been 
satisfied  with  in  a  month. 

All  of  this  came  from  the  pockets  of  the  public, 
and  when  these  pockets  began  to  show  the  bot- 
tom the  government  obligingly  increased  the 
currency  by  the  products  of  the  press.  More 
money  was  needed  by  everybody.  The  morrow 
was  hardly  given  a  thought,  and  the  sanest 
moment  most  people  had  was  when  they  con- 
cluded that  these  were  times  in  which  it  was 
well  to  let  the  evils  of  the  day  be  sufficient 
thereof.  One  never  knew  when  the  Russians 
might  spill  over  the  Tartra  and  the  Carpathians, 
in  which  case  it  would  be  all  over.  The  light- 
heartedness  which  is  so  characteristic  of  the 
Austrians  reached  degrees  that  made  the  serious 
observer  wonder.  Apres  nous  le  deluge,  was  the 
motto  of  the  times.  So  long  as  there  was  food 
enough,  champagne  to  be  had,  and  women  to 
share  these,  the  Russians  could  have  the  rest. 

I  speculated  how  long  this  could  go  on.  The 
military  situation  could  be  handled  by  the  Ger- 
mans, and  would  be  taken  in  hand  by  them 
sooner  or  later.  That  much  I  learned  in  Berlin. 
But  the  Germans  were  powerless  in  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  economic  departments.  Though  the 
Dual  Monarchy  had  been  self-contained  entirely 
in  food  matters  before  the  war,  it  seemed  certain 
that  the  squandering  of  resources  that  was  going 
on  could  in  the  end  have  but  one  result — shortage 
in  everything. 

45 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Despite  that,  Austrian  government  officials 
were  highly  optimistic.  Starve  out  Austria  and 
Hungary!  Why,  that  was  out  of  the  question 
entirely — ausgeschlossenl  At  some  statistical 
bureau  on  the  Schwarzenbergstrasse  I  was  given 
figures  that  were  to  show  the  impossibility  of 
the  Entente's  design  to  reduce  the  country  by 
hunger.  These  figures  were  imposing,  I  will 
admit,  and  after  I  had  studied  them  I  had  the 
impression  that  famine  was  indeed  a  long  way 
off.  It  seemed  that  the  Stiirgkh  regime  knew 
what  it  was  doing,  after  all,  as  I  had  been  told 
at  the  government  offices.  Everything  would  be 
well,  even  if  the  war  should  be  long. 

Two  weeks  later  I  was  at  the  Galician  front. 
Going  there  I  passed  through  northern  Hun- 
gary. The  barns  of  that  district  were  bursting. 
The  crops  had  been  good,  I  was  told.  Every 
siding  was  crowded  with  cars  loaded  with  sugar- 
beets  and  potatoes,  and  out  in  the  fields  the 
sturdy  women  of  the  race,  short-skirted  and 
high-booted,  were  taking  from  the  soil  more 
beets  and  more  potatoes.  The  harvesting  of 
these  crops  had  been  delayed  by  the  absence  of 
the  men,  due  to  the  mobilizations.  By  the  time 
I  reached  Neu-Sandez  in  Galicia,  then  seat  of 
the  Austro-Hungarian  general  headquarters,  I 
had  fully  convinced  myself  that  the  Entente's 
program  of  starvation  was  very  much  out  of 
the  question. 

I  found  that  the  soldiers  were  well  fed.  The 
wheeled  field  kitchens  were  spreading  appetizing 
smells  over  the  countryside,  and  that  their  out* 

"46 


THE    MIGHTY   WAR   PURVEYOR 

put  was  good  was  shown  by  the  fine  physical 
condition  of  the  men. 

Having  established  this  much,  and  the  Rus- 
sians coming  altogether  too  close,  I  had  occasion 
a  week  later  to  visit  Budapest.  In  that  city 
everybody  was  eating  without  a  thought  of  the 
future,  and  that  eating  was  good,  as  will  be 
attested  by  anybody  who  has  ever  sat  down  to 
a  Budapestian  lamb  porkolt,  of  which  the  Amer- 
ican goulash  is  a  sort  of  degenerate  descendant. 
The  only  other  thing  worth  mentioning  is  that 
the  Astoria  Hotel  was  the  only  place  in  town 
not  entirely  occupied  by  the  war  purveyors. 

A  trip  through  central  and  southern  Hungary 
served  merely  to  complete  and  confirm  what  I 
have  already  said  here,  and  when  later  I  took  a 
look  at  Croatia,  and  the  parts  of  Serbia  known 
to-day  as  the  Machwa,  I  began  to  realize  why 
the  Romans  had  thought  these  parts  so  necessary 
to  them.  Soil  and  climate  here  are  the  best 
any  farmer  could  wish  for.  The  districts  are 
famous  for  their  output  in  pork  and  prunes. 

With  the  Russians  firmly  rooted  in  Galicia, 
and  with  the  Austro-Hungarian  troops  driven 
out  of  Serbia,  my  usefulness  as  a  war  corre- 
spondent was  temporarily  at  an  end.  I  returned 
to  Budapest  and  later  visited  Vienna  and  Berlin. 
The  food  situation  was  unchanged.  Austria 
and  Hungary  were  consuming  as  before,  and 
Germany  was  buying  right  and  left.  The  course 
of  the  German  mark  was  still  high,  despite  the 
first  issuance  of  Loan-Treasury  notes,  supported 
as  it  was  by  the  generous  surrender  of  much 

47 


THE    IRON    RATION 

gold  by  the  German  people.  Purchasable  stores 
were  still  plentiful  throughout  southeast  Europe. 

Despite  that,  the  subject  of  food  intruded 
everywhere.  More  concerned  than  it  was  willing 
to  admit,  the  German  government  was  gathering 
every  morsel.  Several  neutral  governments, 
among  them  the  Dutch,  Danish,  Swiss,  and 
Norwegian,  had  already  declared  partial  em- 
bargoes on  food,  and  these  the  German  govern- 
ment had  made  up  its  mind  to  meet.  It  had  in 
its  hands  the  means  to  do  this  most  effectively. 

There  was  Holland,  for  instance.  Her  govern- 
ment had  reduced  the  export  of  food  to  Germany 
to  a  veritable  minimum  even  then,  as  I  learned 
on  a  trip  to  The  Hague  in  December.  That 
was  well  enough,  but  not  without  consequences. 
Holland  has  in  Limburg  a  single  mine  of  lignite 
coal.  The  output  is  small  and  suited  for  little 
more  than  gas  production.  But  the  country 
had  to  get  coal  from  somewhere,  if  her  railroads 
were  to  run,  the  wheels  of  industry  to  turn; 
if  the  ships  were  to  steam  and  the  cities  to  be 
lighted  and  heated. 

Much  of  the  coal  consumed  in  Holland  in 
the  past  had  been  imported  from  Belgium.  But 
that  country  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans. 
The  British  government  had  made  the  taking  of 
bunker  coal  contingent  upon  conditions  which 
the  Dutch  government  thought  unreasonable. 
The  Dutch  were  between  the  devil  and  the  deep 
blue  sea.  Coal  they  had  to  get,  and  Germany 
was  the  only  country  willing  to  supply  that  coal 
— provided  there  was  a  quid  pro  quo  in  kind. 

48 


THE    MIGHTY    WAR    PURVEYOR 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  accept  the  terms 
of  the  Germans,  which  were  coal  for  food. 

The  bartering  which  had  preceded  the  making 
of  these  arrangements  had  been  very  close  and 
stubborn.  The  Dutch  government  did  not  want 
to  offend  the  British  government.  It  could  not 
afford,  on  the  other  hand,  to  earn  the  ill-will 
of  the  Germans.  I  had  occasion  to  occupy 
myself  with  the  case,  and  when  my  inquiry 
had  been  completed  I  had  gained  the  impression 
that  the  German  government  had  left  nothing 
undone  to  get  from  the  Dutch  all  the  food  that 
could  be  had.  The  insistency  displayed  and 
applied  was  such  that  it  was  difficult  to  reconcile 
with  it  the  easy  manner  in  which  the  subject 
of  food  had  been  discussed  in  Berlin.  It  seemed 
that  the  food  and  live-stock  enumerations  that 
had  been  made  throughout  the  German  Empire 
had  given  cause  for  anxiety. 

In  January  of  1915  I  was  sent  to  the  Balkans 
for  the  purpose  of  surveying  the  political  situ- 
ation there.  While  in  transit  to  Roumania  I 
had  once  more  taken  stock  in  Berlin.  No  great 
change  in  food-supply  conditions  could  be  noticed. 
The  war-bread  was  there,  of  course.  But  those 
who  did  not  care  to  eat  it  did  not  have  to  do  so. 
In  Vienna  they  lived  as  before,  and  in  Budapest 
they  boastfully  pointed  to  their  full  boards. 

But  in  Bucharest  I  once  more  ran  into  food 
actualities.  Thousands  of  German  commission- 
men  were  buying  everything  they  could  lay 
hands  on,  and  with  them  co-operated  hundreds 
of  Austro-Hungarians  who  had  long  been  resi- 

49 


THE    IRON    RATION 

dents  of  Roumania,  and  many  of  whom  stood 
high  on  the  grain  exchange  of  Braila. 

Accident  caused  me  to  put  up  at  the  Palace 
Hotel,  which  was  the  headquarters  of  the  grain- 
buyers.  In  the  lobby  of  the  establishment 
thousands  of  tons  of  cereals  changed  hands 
every  hour. 

I  evinced  some  interest  in  the  trading  in 
speaking  to  the  man  behind  the  desk. 

"Yes,  sir!  All  these  men  are  German  grain- 
dealers,"  explained  the  Balkanite  portier  to  me. 
"This  hotel  is  their  headquarters.  If  you  don't 
happen  to  sympathize  with  them,  no  harm  will 
be  done  if  you  move  to  another  hotel.  There 
are  many  in  town." 

But  I  don't  mind  being  spoken  to  frankly,  and 
since  I  had  no  special  interests  in  grain-dealers 
of  any  sort,  there  was  no  reason  why  I  should 
move,  especially  since  the  portier  had  invited 
me  to  do  that.  By  that  time,  also,  I  had  traveled 
enough  in  Europe  at  war  to  know  that  discretion 
is  always  the  better  part  of  valor,  and  that  being 
unperturbed  was  the  best  insurance  against 
trouble.  The  German  grain-dealers  were  doing 
a  good  business. 

It  was  easy  to  buy,  but  not  so  easy  to  export. 
Premier  Bratianu  did  not  like  the  transactions 
that  were  going  on,  and  had  passed  the  word  to 
the  management  of  the  Roumanian  state  rail- 
roads that  the  traffic  was  to  move  as  slowly  as 
possible.  There  are  ways  and  means  of  over- 
coming that  sort  of  instruction,  and  the  German 
grain-dealers  found  them.  Far  be  it  from  me  to 

50 


THE   MIGHTY   WAR    PURVEYOR 

run  here  a  full  record  of  bribery  in  Bucharest. 
I  may  state,  however,  that  money  left  deep 
scars  on  many  a  fairly  good  character  in  those 
days.  The  influence  and  persuasion  of  the 
chanteuses  et  danseuses  of  the  cabarets  on  the 
Calea  Victoriei  played  often  a  great  r61e  in 
cereal  exports.  I  gained  personal  knowledge  of 
a  case  in  which  a  four-karat  diamond  secured 
the  immediate  release  of  eight  thousand  tons  of 
wheat,  and  in  that  wheat  was  buried  a  large 
quantitity  of  crude  rubber,  the  slabs  of  which 
carried  the  name  of  a  large  automobile-tire  manu- 
facturer in  Petrograd.  Such  things  will  happen 
when  the  ladies  take  a  hand  in  war  subsistence. 

My  special  mission  now  was  to  study  the 
political  situation  on  the  Balkan  peninsula  and 
finally  end  up  somewhere  in  Turkey.  I  did  both. 

In  Sofia  the  government  was  painfully  neutral 
in  those  days.  There  was  as  yet  no  reason  why 
the  Germans  should  buy  grain  there,  but  con- 
tracts were  being  made  for  the  next  crop.  Wool 
was  also  being  bought,  and  many  hides 
moved  north  into  Germany  and  Austria-Hun- 
gary. But  the  deals  were  of  an  eminently  re- 
spectable sort.  Bribery  was  out  of  the  question. 

The  trouble  was  that  the  shipments  secured 
in  Bulgaria  never  reached  their  destination  unless 
bribes  moved  the  trains.  The  Serbs  held  the 
central  reaches  of  the  Danube,  which,  in  addition 
to  this,  was  ice-bound  just  then,  and  all  freight 
from  Bulgaria,  going  north,  had  to  be  taken 
through  Roumania.  To  get  them  into  that 
country  was  simple  enough,  but  to  get  them 

51 


THE    IRON    RATION 

out  took  more  cash,  more  diamonds,  and  con- 
siderable champagne.  In  a  single  month  the 
price  of  that  beverage  in  Bucharest  jumped  from 
eighteen  to  forty  francs,  and,  as  if  to  avenge 
themselves,  the  Germans  began  shortly  to  re- 
fill the  shelves  with  "champus"  made  along  the 
Rhine. 

With  Bulgaria  explored  and  described,  I  set 
out  for  Turkey,  where,  at  Constantinople,  in 
July  of  that  year,  I  ran  into  the  first  bread-line 
formed  by  people  "who  had  the  price.*' 

The  Ottoman  capital  gets  its  food-supplies 
normally  over  the  waterways  that  give  access  to 
the  city — the  Bosphorus  from  the  north  and 
the  Black  Sea  and  the  Dardanelles  from  the 
south  and  the  Mediterranean.  Both  of  these 
avenues  of  trade  and  traffic  were  now  closed. 
The  Russians  kept  the  entrance  to  the  Bosphorus 
well  patrolled,  and  the  French  and  British  saw 
to  it  that  nothing  entered  the  Dardanelles, 
even  if  they  themselves  could  not  navigate  the 
strait  very  far,  as  some  eight  months'  stay  with 
the  Turkish  armed  forces  at  the  Dardanelles  and 
on  Gallipoli  made  very  plain  to  me. 

The  Anatolian  Railroad,  together  with  a  few 
unimportant  tap  lines,  was  now  the  only  means 
of  reaching  the  agricultural  districts  of  Asia 
Minor — the  Konia  Vilayet  and  the  Cilician  Plain, 
for  instance.  But  the  line  is  single-tracked  and 
was  just  then  very  much  overloaded  with  mili- 
tary transports.  The  result  of  this  was  that 
Constantinople  ate  up  what  stores  there  were, 
and  then  waited  for  more. 

52 


THE    MIGHTY    WAR    PURVEYOR 

There  was  more,  of  course.  The  Ottoman 
Empire  is  an  agricultural  state,  and  would  be 
more  of  one  if  the  population  could  see  its  way 
clear  to  doing  without  the  goat  and  the  fat- 
tailed  sheep.  That  its  capital  and  only  large 
city  should  be  without  breadstuff  as  early  as 
July,  1915,  was  hard  to  believe,  yet  a  fact. 

In  May  of  that  year  I  had  made  a  trip  through 
Anatolia,  Syria,  and  Arabia.  By  that  time  the 
crops  in  Asia  Minor  are  well  advanced  and  wheat 
is  almost  ripe.  These  crops  were  good,  but, 
like  the  crops  of  the  preceding  season,  which 
had  not  yet  been  moved,  owing  to  the  war,  they 
were  of  little  value  to  the  people  of  Constanti- 
nople. They  could  not  be  had. 

I  hate  estimates,  and  for  that  reason  will  not 
indulge  in  them  here.  But  the  fact  is  that 
from  Eregli,  in  the  Cappadocian  Plain,  to  Eski- 
Shehir,  on  the  Anatolian  high  plateau,  I  saw 
enough  wheat  rotting  at  the  railroad  stations  to 
supply  the  Central  Powers  for  two  years.  Not 
only  was  every  shed  filled  with  the  grain,  but 
the  farmers  who  had  come  later  were  obliged 
to  store  theirs  out  in  the  open,  where  it  lay 
without  shelter  of  any  sort.  Rain  and  warmth 
had  caused  the  grain  on  top  to  sprout  lustily, 
while  the  inside  of  the  heap  was  rotting.  The 
railroad  and  the  government  promised  relief 
day  after  day,  but  both  were  unable  to  bring 
it  over  the  single  track,  which  was  given  over, 
almost  entirely,  to  military  traffic. 

Thus  it  came  that  the  shops  of  the  ekmekdjis 
in  Constantinople  were  besieged  by  hungry 

5  53 


THE    IRON    RATION 

thousands,  the  merest  fraction  of  whom  ever 
got  the  loaf  which  the  ticket,  issued  by  the 
police,  promised.  That  was  not  all,  however. 
Speculators  and  dealers  soon  discerned  their 
chance  of  making  money  and  were  not  slow  in 
availing  themselves  of  it.  Prices  rose  until  the 
poor  could  buy  nothing  but  corn  meal.  A  corner 
in  olives  added  to  the  distress  of  the  multitude, 
and  the  government,  with  that  ineptness  which 
is  typical  of  government  in  Turkey,  failed  to 
do  anything  that  had  practical  value.  Though 
the  Young  Turks  had  for  a  while  set  their  faces 
against  corruption,  many  of  the  party  leaders 
had  relapsed,  with  the  result  that  little  was 
done  to  check  the  rapacity  of  the  dealer  who 
hoarded  for  purposes  of  speculation  and  price- 
boosting. 

Yet  those  in  the  Constantinople  bread-lines 
were  modest  in  their  normal  demands.  Turk 
and  Levantine  manage  to  get  along  well  on  a 
diet  of  bread  and  olives,  with  a  little  pilaff — 
a  rice  dish — and  a  small  piece  of  meat,  generally 
mutton,  once  a  day  thrown  in.  With  a  little 
coffee  for  the  Turk,  and  a  glass  of  red  wine  for 
the  Levantine,  this  is  a  very  agreeable  bill  of 
fare,  and  a  good  one,  as  any  expert  in  dietetics 
will  affirm. 

I  had  occasion  to  discuss  the  food  shortage  in 
Turkey  with  Halideh  Edib  Hannym  Effendi, 
Turkey's  leading  feminist  and  education  pro- 
moter. 

She  assigned  two  causes.  One  of  them  was 
the  lack  of  transportation,  to  which  I  have 

54 


THE    MIGHTY   WAR   PURVEYOR 

already  referred  as  coming  under  my  own  ob- 
servation. The  other  was  found  in  the  inept- 
ness  of  the  Ottoman  government.  She  was  of 
the  opinion  that  there  was  enough  food  in  the 
Bosphorus  region,  but  that  the  speculators 
were  holding  it  for  higher  prices.  This,  too, 
was  nothing  new  to  me.  But  it  was  interesting 
to  hear  a  Turkish  woman's  opinion  on  this 
nefarious  practice.  To  the  misfortune  of  war 
tke  greedy  were  adding  their  lust  for  possession, 
and  the  men  in  Stamboul  lacked  the  courage 
to  say  them  nay.  That  men  like  Enver  Pasha 
and  Talaat  Bey,  who  had  taken  upon  themselves 
the  responsibility  of  having  Turkey  enter  the 
lists  of  the  European  War,  were  now  afraid  to 
put  an  end  to  food  speculation,  showed  what 
grip  the  economic  pirate  may  lay  upon  a  com- 
munity. What  the  Allied  fleet  and  military 
forces  at  the  Dardanelles  and  on  Gallipoli  had 
not  accomplished  the  food  sharks  had  done. 
Before  them  the  leaders  of  the  Young  Turks  had 
taken  to  cover. 


IV 

FAMINE   COMES   TO   STAY 

f  I  iHAT  the  food  question  should  have  be- 
•••  come  acute  first  in  a  state  as  distinctly 
agricultural  as  the  Ottoman  Empire  furnishes  an 
apt  illustration  of  the  fact  that  in  the  production 
of  food  man-power  is  all-essential.  The  best 
soil  and  climate  lose  their  value  when  farming 
must  be  neglected  on  account  of  a  shortage  of 
labor.  The  plants  providing  us  with  breadstuff 
are  the  product  of  evolution.  At  one  time  they 
were  mere  grasses,  as  their  tendency  to  revert 
to  that  state,  when  left  to  themselves,  demon- 
strates in  such  climates  as  make  natural  prop- 
agation possible.  It  is  believed  that  the  "oat 
grass"  on  the  South  African  veldt  is  a  case  of 
that  sort. 

But  apart  from  all  that,  every  cropping 
season  shows  that  man,  in  order  to  have  bread, 
must  plow,  sow,  cultivate,  and  reap.  When  the 
soil  is  no  longer  able  to  supply  the  cereal  plants 
with  the  nutriment  they  need,  fertilizing  be- 
comes necessary. 

I  have  shown  that  bread-lines  formed  in 
Constantinople  when  out  in  the  Anatolian  vila- 

56 


FAMINE    COMES   TO    STAY 

yets  the  wheat  was  rotting  at  the  side  of  the 
railroad  track.  This  was  due  to  defects  and 
handicaps  in  distribution.  But  there  was  also 
another  side  to  this.  I  made  several  trips  through 
Thrace,  that  part  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  which 
lies  in  Europe,  and  found  that  its  rich  valleys 
and  plains  could  have  supplied  the  Turkish 
capital  with  all  the  wheat  it  needed  had  the  soil 
been  cultivated.  This  had  not  been  done,  how- 
ever. The  mobilizations  had  taken  so  many 
men  from  the  tchiftliks — farms — that  a  proper 
tilling  of  the  fields  was  out  of  the  question.  A 
shortage  in  grain  resulted,  and  the  food  sharks 
were  thus  enabled  to  exact  a  heavy  tribute 
from  the  public. 

It  is  a  case  of  hard  times  with  the  speculator 
when  things  are  plentiful.  He  is  then  unable  to 
gather  in  all  of  the  supply.  There  is  a  leakage 
which  he  does  not  control  and  that  leakage  causes 
his  defeat  in  the  end.  It  is  a  well-known  fact 
that  a  corner  in  wheat  is  impossible,  and  a 
dangerous  undertaking,  so  long  as  from  15  to 
30  per  cent,  of  the  grain  remains  uncontrolled. 
That  quantity  represents  the  excess  profit  which 
the  speculator  counts  upon.  Not  to  control 
it  means  that  the  supply  available  to  the  con- 
sumer is  large  enough  to  keep  the  price  near 
its  normal  curves,  to  which  the  speculator  must 
presently  adhere  if  he  is  not  to  lose  money  on 
his  corner. 

But  a  great  deal  depends  upon  how  corrupt 
the  government  is.  The  Turk-Espaniole  clique 
in  Stamboul  and  Pera  had  cornered  the  Thracian 

57 


THE    IRON   RATION 

wheat  crop  in  1915,  and  the  Anatolian  Railroad 
was  unable  to  bring  in  enough  breadstuff  from 
Anatolia  and  Syria.  The  bread-lines  were  the 
result. 

It  was  not  much  better  hi  Austria  and  Hun- 
gary. Here,  too,  production  had  fallen  off  about 
one-fifth,  and  the  many  war  purveyors,  who  had 
been  driven  out  of  business  by  saner  systems 
of  army  purchasing,  had  turned  their  attention 
to  foods  of  any  sort.  In  Germany  the  same 
thing  happened  in  a  slightly  less  degree. 

Since  in  the  Central  states  the  bread  ticket 
had  meanwhile  been  introduced,  and  the  quality 
and  price  of  bread  fixed,  one  may  ask  the  ques- 
tion: Why  was  bread  short  in  those  countries 
when  formerly  they  produced  fully  95  per  cent, 
of  their  breadstuff s? 

The  answer  is  that,  firstly,  production  had 
fallen  off,  and,  secondly,  there  was  much  corner- 
ing by  the  speculators. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  bread  regula- 
tion so  far  consisted  of  attempts  by  the  govern- 
ment to  provide  for  the  multitude  bread  at  a 
reasonable  price,  without  distribution  being 
placed  under  efficient  control.  The  rapacity  of 
the  food  shark  had  forced  up  the  price  of  bread- 
stuffs,  and  nothing  but  government  interference 
could  check  the  avarice  of  the  dealers.  But  the 
population  had  to  have  cheap  bread,  and  atten- 
tion had  to  be  given  the  paucity  of  the  supply. 
Fixed  prices  were  to  make  possible  the  former, 
and  a  limitation  in  consumption  was  to  over- 
come the  latter. 

58 


FAMINE    COMES    TO    STAY 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  procedure  left  the 
food  shark  a  free  hand.  He  could  buy  as  before 
and  sell  when  and  to  whom  he  pleased.  Thus 
it  came  that,  while  the  masses  of  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary  had  to  eat  war-bread  in  pre- 
scribed quantities,  those  better  off  materially 
still  had  their  wheat-flour  products.  The  au- 
thorities were  not  ignorant  of  this,  but  had  good 
reason  not  to  interfere.  The  time  was  come 
when  the  financial  resources  of  the  country  had 
to  be  "mobilized,"  and  this  was  being  done  by 
extracting  from  the  population  all  the  spare 
coin  and  concentrating  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
food  speculators  so  that  these  could  be  taxed 
and  enabled  to  buy  war  loans.  These  men  were 
easily  dealt  with.  Very  often  they  were  bankers, 
and  kings  of  industry  and  commerce.  To  pro- 
vide the  government  with  funds  for  the  war  was 
to  them  a  question  of  profit. 

The  bread  ticket  did  not  favor  an  equitable 
distribution,  nor  was  it  ever  intended  to  do  that. 
Its  sole  purpose  at  first  was  to  tax  food  in  such 
a  manner  that  those  who  were  willing  to  buy 
more  food  than  the  bread  ticket  prescribed  had 
to  pay  heavily  tor  this  indulgence.  That  this 
was  a  socio-economic  injustice  was  plain  to  those 
who  reasoned  far  enough.  But  the  patient  rabble 
accepted  the  thing  at  its  face  value,  as  it  will 
accept  most  things  that  bear  the  stamp  of 
authority, 

I  had  no  difficulty  anywhere  in  getting  all  the 
wheat  bread  and  farinaceous  dishes  1  wanted. 
It  was  not  even  necessary  to  ask  for  them. 

59 


THE    IRON    RATION 

It  was  taken  for  granted  that  I  belonged  to 
the  class  that  did  not  have  to  eat  war-bread  and 
do  without  pudding  and  cake,  and  that  was 
enough.  While  I  was  supposed  to  have  a  bread 
ticket,  few  ever  asked  for  it.  In  the  restaurants 
which  I  frequented  I  generally  found  a  dinner 
roll  hidden  under  the  napkin,  which  for  that 
purpose  was  as  a  rule  folded  in  the  manner 
known  as  the  "bishop's  miter." 

But  gone  for  the  many  was  the  era  of  enough 
food.  The  bread  ration  in  Berlin  was  three 
hundred  grams  (ten  and  a  half  ounces)  per  day, 
and  in  Vienna  it  was  two  hundred  and  ten  grams 
(seven  and  two-fifths  ounces).  Together  with  a 
normal  supply  of  other  eatables,  flour  for  cook- 
ing, for  instance,  these  rations  were  not  really 
short,  and  in  my  case  they  were  generous. 
But  with  most  it  was  now  a  question  of  paying 
abnormally  high  prices  for  meat  and  the  like, 
so  that  enough  bread  was  more  of  a  necessity 
than  ever. 

It  was  rather  odd  that  in  Austria  the  bread 
ration  should  be  smaller  than  in  Germany. 
That  country  had  in  the  past  produced  more 
breadstuff  per  capita  than  her  ally,  and  would 
have  been  able  to  import  from  Hungary  had 
conditions  been  different.  Hungary  had  in  the 
past  exported  wheat  flour  to  many  parts,  due 
largely  to  the  fine  quality  of  her  grain.  Now, 
of  a  sudden,  it,  too,  faced  a  shortage. 

The  fact  is  that  Austria-Hungary  had  mobil- 
ized a  large  part  of  her  male  population  and  had 
for  that  reason  been  extremely  short  of  farm 

60 


FAMINE    COMES   TO   STAY 

labor  during  the  season  of  1915.  The  large 
reserve  stores  had  been  exhausted  by  improv- 
idence, and,  to  make  things  worse,  the  crops 
of  that  year  were  not  favored  by  the  weather. 
Meanwhile,  much  of  the  wheat  had  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  speculators,  who  were  releasing 
it  only  when  their  price  was  paid.  In  Austria 
the  bread  ticket  was  the  convenient  answer  to 
all  complaints,  and  in  Hungary,  where  the  bread 
ticket  was  not  generally  introduced  as  yet,  the 
food  shark  had  the  support  of  the  government 
to  such  an  extent  that  criticism  of  his  methods 
was  futile.  Now  and  then  an  enterprising  editor 
would  be  heard  from — as  far  as  his  press-room, 
where  the  censor  caused  such  hardihoods  to  be 
routed  from  the  plate. 

The  food  outlook  in  Austria-Hungary  was  no 
pleasant  one.  Drastic  regulation  would  be  needed 
to  alleviate  conditions. 

It  was  no  better  in  Germany,  as  a  trip  to 
Berlin  showed.  Food  had  indeed  become  a 
problem  in  the  Central  states  of  Europe. 

The  same  area  had  been  put  under  crops  in 
1915;  the  area  had  even  been  somewhat  ex- 
tended by  advice  of  the  governments  that  all 
fallow  lands  be  sown.  But  the  harvest  had  not 
been  good.  The  shortage  of  trained  farmers, 
lack  of  animal-power,  and  the  paucity  of  fertil- 
izers had  done  exactly  what  was  to  be  expected. 
Then,  the  growing  season  had  not  been  favor- 
able. The  year  had  been  wet,  and  much  of  the 
grain  had  been  ruined  even  after  it  was  ripe. 

For  the  purpose  of  investigating  conditions 

61 


THE    IRON    RATION 

at  close  range  I  made  a  few  trips  into  the  country 
districts.  The  large  landowners,  the  farmers, 
and  the  villagers  had  the  same  story  to  tell. 
Not  enough  hands,  shortage  of  horses  and  other 
draft  animals,  little  manure,  and  a  poor  season. 

One  of  the  men  with  whom  I  discussed  the 
aspects  of  farming  under  the  handicaps  which 
the  war  was  imposing  was  Joachim  Baron  von 
Bredow-Wagenitz,  a  large  landowner  in  the 
province  of  Brandenburg.  As  owner  of  an  estate 
that  had  been  most  successful  under  scientific 
methods  of  farming,  he  was  well  qualified  to 
discuss  the  situation. 

He  had  tried  steam-plowing  and  found  it 
wanting.  The  man  was  on  the  verge  of  believing 
that  Mother  Earth  resented  being  treated  in 
that  manner.  The  best  had  been  done  to  make 
steam-plowing  as  good  as  the  other  form.  But 
something  seemed  to  have  gone  wrong.  There 
was  no  life  in  the  crops.  It  was  a  question  of 
fertilizing,  my  informant  concluded.  The  theory, 
which  had  been  held,  that  there  was  enough 
reserve  plant  nutriment  in  the  soil  to  produce 
a  good  crop  at  least  one  season  with  indifferent 
fertilization,  was  evidently  incorrect,  or  correct 
only  in  so  far  as  certain  crop  plants  were  con- 
cerned. 

Baron  Bredow  had  employed  some  threescore 
of  Russian  prisoners  on  his  place.  Some  of  the 
men  had  worked  well,  but  most  of  them  had 
shown  ability  only  in  shirking. 

The  older  men  and  the  women  had  done  their 
best  to  get  something  out  of  the  soil,  but  they 

62 


FAMINE    COMES   TO   STAY 

were  unable,  in  the  first  place,  to  stand  the 
physical  strain,  and,  secondly,  they  lacked  the 
necessary  experience  in  the  departments  which 
the  men  at  the  front  had  looked  after. 

Elsewhere  in  Germany  it  was  the  same  story. 
It  simply  was  impossible  to  discount  the  loss  of 
almost  four  million  men  who  had  by  that  time 
been  withdrawn  from  the  soil  and  were  now 
consuming  more  than  ever  before  without  pro- 
ducing a  single  thing,  as  yet. 

To  show  what  that  really  meant  let  me  cite 
a  few  factors  that  are  easily  grasped.  The 
population  of  the  German  Empire  was  then, 
roundly,  70,000,000  persons.  Of  this  number 
35,000,000  were  women.  Of  the  35,000,000  men 
all  individuals  from  birth  to  the  age  of  fifteen 
were  virtually  consumers  only,  while  those  from 
fifty  years  onward  were  more  or  less  in  the  same 
class.  Accepting  that  the  average  length  of  life 
in  Central  Europe  is  fifty-five  years,  we  find  that 
the  male  producers  in  1915  numbered  about 
20,000,000,  and  of  this  number  about  one-half 
was  then  either  at  the  fronts  or  under  military 
training.  Of  these  10,000,000  roughly  4,200,000 
had  formerly  occupied  themselves  with  the  pro- 
duction and  distribution  of  food.  I  need  not 
state  that  this  army  formed  quite  the  best  ele- 
ment in  food  production  for  the  simple  reason 
that  it  was  composed  of  men  in  the  prime  of 
life. 

A  survey  in  Austria  showed  not  only  the  same 
conditions,  but  also  indicated  that  the  worst  was 
yet  to  come.  Austria  and  Hungary  had  then 

63 


THE    IRON    RATION 

under  the  colors  about  5,000,000  men,  of  whom, 
roundly,  2,225,000  came  from  the  fields  and  food 
industries,  so  that  agriculture  was  even  worse 
off  in  the  Dual  Monarchy  than  it  was  in  Germany. 

The  large  landowners  in  Austria  and  Hungary 
told  the  same  story  as  Baron  Bredow.  Experi- 
ences tallied  exactly.  They,  too,  had  found  it 
impossible  to  get  the  necessary  labor,  for  either 
love  or  money.  It  simply  was  not  in  the  coun- 
try, and  with  many  of  the  Austrian  and  Hun- 
garian land-operators  the  labor  given  by  the 
Russian  prisoner  of  war  was  next  thing  to  being 
nothing  at  all.  The  Russians  felt  that  they  were 
being  put  to  work  against  the  interest  of  their 
country,  and  many  of  them  seemed  to  like  the 
idleness  of  the  prison  camp  better  than  the  work 
that  was  expected  of  them  on  the  estates,  though 
here  they  were  almost  free. 

I  remember  especially  the  experiences  of  Count 
Erdody,  a.  Hungarian  nobleman  and  owner  of 
several  big  estates.  After  trying  every  sort  of 
available  male  labor,  he  finally  decided  to  cul- 
tivate his  lands  with  the  help  of  women.  The 
thing  was  not  a  success  by  any  means,  but  when 
he  came  to  compare  notes  with  his  neighbors 
he  found  that,  after  all,  the  women  had  done 
much  better  than  the  men  on  his  neighbors'  es- 
tates. As  a  sign  of  the  times  I  should  mention 
here  that  Count  Erdody,  no  longer  a  young  man, 
would  spend  weeks  at  a  stretch  doing  the  heaviest 
of  farm  work,  labor  in  which  he  was  assisted  by 
his  American  wife  and  two  daughters,  one  of 
whom  could  work  a  plow  as  well  as  any  man. 

64 


FAMINE    COMES   TO    STAY 

The  war  had  ceased  to  be  an  affair  that  would 
affect  solely  the  masses,  as  is  often  the  case. 
Men  who  never  before  had  done  manual  labor 
could  now  be  seen  following  the  plow,  cultivating 
crops,  operating  reapers,  and  threshing  the  grain. 
The  farm  superintendents,  most  of  them  young 
and  able-bodied  men  of  education,  had  long 
ago  been  called  to.  the  colors  as  reserve  officers, 
so  that  generally  the  owner,  who  in  the  past 
had  taken  it  very  easy,  was  now  confronted 
with  a  total  absence  of  executives  on  his  estates, 
in  addition  to  being  short  of  man-power  and 
animals  of  labor. 

But  the  large  farm-operators  were  not  half 
so  poorly  off  as  the  small  farmer.  I  will  cite 
a  case  in  order  to  show  the  conditions  on  the 
small  farms  and  in  the  villages. 

The  land  near  Linz  in  Austria  is  particularly 
fertile  and  is  mostly  held  by  small  owners  who 
came  into  possession  of  it  during  the  Farmer 
Revolution  in  the  'forties.  I  visited  a  number  of 
these  men  and  will  give  here  what  is  a  typical 
instance  of  what  they  had  to  contend  with  in  the 
crop  season  of  1915. 

"It  is  all  right  for  the  government  to  expect 
that  we  are  to  raise  the  same,  if  not  better,  crops 
during  the  war,"  said  one  of  them.  "For  the 
fine  gentlemen  who  sit  in  the  Ministerial  offices 
that  does  not  mean  much.  Out  here  it  is  different. 
Their  circulars  are  very  interesting,  but  the  fact 
is  that  we  cannot  carry  out  the  suggestions  they 
make. 

"They  have  left  me  my  youngest  son.    He  is 

65 


THE    IRON    RATION 

a  mere  boy — just  eighteen.  The  other  boys — 
three  of  them — who  helped  me  run  this  place, 
I  have  lost.  One  of  them  was  killed  in  Galicia, 
and  the  other  two  have  been  taken  prisoners. 
I  may  never  see  them  again.  They  say  my  two 
boys  are  prisoners.  But  I  have  heard  nothing  of 
them. 

"My  crops  would  have  been  better  if  I  hadn't 
tried  to  follow  some  of  the  advice  in  the  govern- 
ment circulars.  It  was  my  duty  to  raise  all 
I  could  on  my  land,  they  said.  I  doubted  the 
wisdom  of  putting  out  too  much,  with  nobody  to 
help  me. 

"  It  would  have  been  better  had  I  followed  my 
own  judgment  and  plowed  half  the  land  and 
let  the  other  lie  fallow,  in  which  case  it  would 
have  been  better  for  the  crops  next  year.  In- 
stead of  that  I  planted  all  the  fields,  used  a  great 
deal  of  seed,  wasted  much  of  my  labor,  first  in 
plowing,  then  in  cultivating,  and  later  in  har- 
vesting, and  now  I  have  actually  less  return  than 
usually  I  had  from  half  the  land." 

The  records  of  the  man  showed  that  from  his 
thirty  acres  he  had  harvested  what  normally 
fifteen  would  have  given  him.  Haste  makes 
waste,  and  in  his  instance  haste  was  the  equiva- 
lent of  trying  to  do  with  two  pairs  of  weak  hands 
what  formerly  three  pairs  of  strong  arms  had 
done.  The  farmer  explained  that  for  several 
years  before  the  war  he  had  done  little  work, 
feeling  that  he  was  entitled  to  a  rest. 

Nor  had  his  heart  been  in  the  work.  One  of 
his  sons  had  been  killed.  Two  others  were  in 

66 


Photograph  from  Brown  Brothers,  N.  Y. 

A  LEVY  OF  FARMEE  BOYS  OFF  FOR  THE  BARRACKS 

The  fact  that  millions  of  food-producers  of  this  type  were  taken  from  the  soil  caused 
Central  Europe  to  run  short  of  life's  necessities. 


Photograph  from  Brown  Brothers,  N.  Y. 

GERMAN  CAVALRYMEN  AT  WORK  PLOWING 

As  food  grew  scarcer  the  German  army  began  to  cultivate  the  fields  in  the  occupied 
territories  to  lessen  the  burden  of  the  food-producer  at  home. 


FAMINE    COMES   TO    STAY 

captivity,  and  the  fourth,  Franz,  might  be  called 
to  the  colors  any  day.  It  seemed  to  him  futile 
to  continue.  What  was  the  use  of  anything, 
now  that  his  family  had  been  torn  apart  in  that 
manner? 

Taxes  were  higher,  of  course.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  was  getting  a  little  more  for  his  prod- 
ucts, but  not  enough  to  make  good  the  loss  sus- 
tained through  bad  crops.  While  the  production 
of  his  land  had  fallen  to  about  one-half  of  normal, 
he  was  getting  on  an  average  15  per  cent,  more 
for  what  he  sold,  which  was  now  a  bare  third  of 
what  he  had  sold  in  other  years,  seeing  that  from 
the  little  he  had  raised  he  had  to  meet  the  wants 
of  his  family  and  the  few  animals  that  were  left. 

Neighbors  of  the  man  told  a  similar  story. 
Some  of  them  had  done  a  little  better  in  produc- 
tion, but  in  no  instance  had  the  crop  been  within 
more  than  80  per  cent,  of  normal.  They,  too, 
were  not  satisfied  with  the  prices  they  were 
getting.  The  buyers  of  the  commission-men 
were  guided  by  the  minimum-price  regulation 
which  the  government  was  enforcing,  and  often 
they  would  class  a  thing  inferior  in  order  to  go 
below  that  price — as  the  regulations  permitted. 
These  people  felt  that  they  were  being  mulcted. 
But  redress  there  was  none.  If  they  refused  to 
sell,  the  authorities  could  compel  them,  and 
rather  than  face  requisition  they  allowed  the 
agents  of  the  food  sharks  to  have  their  way.  The 
thought  that  the  government  was  exploiting 
them  was  disheartening,  and  was  reflected  in 
their  production  of  food. 

67 


THE    IRON   RATION 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  almost  everywhere. 
The  able-bodied  men  had  been  taken  from  the 
soil,  just  as  they  had  been  taken  from  other 
economic  spheres.  Labor  was  not  only  scarce, 
but  so  high-priced  that  the  small  farmer  could 
not  afford  to  buy  it. 

And  then,  I  found  that  in  the  rural  districts 
the  war  looked  much  more  real  to  people.  There 
it  had  truly  fostered  the  thought  that  all  in 
life  is  vain.  The  city  people  were  much  better 
off  in  that  respect.  They  also  had  their  men  at 
the  front.  But  they  had  more  diversion,  even 
if  that  diversion  was  usually  no  more  than  meet- 
ing many  people  each  day.  They  had,  moreover, 
the  exhilarating  sensation  that  comes  from  play- 
ing a  game  for  big  stakes.  When  the  outlook 
was  dreary  they  always  found  some  optimist 
who  would  cheer  them  up;  and  the  report  of 
some  victory,  however  small  and  inconsequential, 
buoyed  them  up  for  days  at  a  time.  Out  in  the 
country  it  was  different.  The  weekly  paper  did 
its  best  to  be  cheerful.  But  its  sanguine  guesses 
as  to  the  military  future  were  seen  by  eyes  ac- 
customed to  dealing  with  the  realities  of  nature. 

I  visited  many  Austrian  villages  and  found 
the  same  psychology  everywhere.  The  Austrian 
farmer  was  tired  of  the  war  by  December  of 
1914.  When  I  occupied  myself  again  with  him 
a  year  later  he  was  disgusted  and  had  come  to 
care  not  a  rap  who  governed  in  Budapest.  Of 
course,  it  was  different  should  the  Russians  get 
to  Vienna.  In  that  case  they  would  take  their 
pitchforks  and  scythes  and  show  them. 

68 


The  Hungarian  farmer  was  in  the  same  mood. 
If  the  war  could  have  been  ended  with  the  Italians 
getting  no  farther  than  Vienna  things  would  have 
been  well  enough,  but  to  have  the  Russians  in 
Budapest — not  to  be  thought  of;  not  for  a  minute. 

Meanwhile,  the  Austrian  and  Hungarian  gov- 
ernments, taking  now  many  a  leaf  from  the  book 
of  the  Germans,  were  urging  a  greater  production 
of  food  next  season.  Highly  technical  books 
were  being  digested  into  the  every-day  language 
of  the  farmer.  It  was  pointed  out  what  sorts  of 
plowing  would  be  most  useful,  and  what  might 
be  omitted  in  case  it  could  not  be  done.  How 
and  when  to  fertilize  under  prevailing  conditions 
was  also  explained. 

The  leaflets  meant  well,  but  generally  over- 
looked the  fact  that  each  farm  has  problems  of 
its  own.  But  this  prodding  of  the  farmer  and 
his  soil  was  not  entirely  without  good  results. 
It  caused  a  rather  thorough  cultivation  of  the 
fields  in  the  fall  of  1915,  and  also  led  to  the  util-' 
ization  of  fertilizing  materials  which  had  been 
overlooked  before.  The  dung-pits  were  scraped, 
and  even  the  earth  around  them  was  carted 
into  the  fields.  Though  animal  urine  had  already 
been  highly  valued  as  a  fertilizer,  it  was  now 
conserved  with  greater  care.  Every  speck  of 
wood  ash  was  saved.  The  humus  on  the  wood- 
land floors  and  forests  was  drawn  on.  The 
muck  of  rivers  and  ponds  was  spread  over  the 
near-by  fields,  and  in  northern  Germany  the 
parent  stratum  of  peat  growth  was  ground  up 

and  added  to  the  soil  as  plant  food. 
6  69 


THE  FOOD  SHARK  AND  HIS  WAYS 

THERE  were  two  schools  of  war  economists 
in  Central  Europe,  and  they  had  their 
following  in  each  of  the  several  governments 
that  regulated  food — its  production,  distribu- 
tion, and  consumption.  The  two  elements  op- 
posed each  other,  naturally,  and  not  a  little 
confusion  came  of  this  now  and  then. 

The  military  formed  one  of  these  schools — 
the  radical.  These  men  wanted  to  spread  over 
the  entire  population  the  discipline  of  the  bar- 
rack-yard. For  the  time  being  they  wanted  the 
entire  state  to  be  run  on  military  principles. 
All  production  was  to  be  for  the  state;  all  dis- 
tribution was  to  be  done  in  the  interest  of  the 
war,  and  all  consumption,  whether  that  of 
the  rich  or  the  poor,  was  to  be  measured  by  the 
military  value  of  the  individual.  It  was  pro- 
posed that  every  person  in  the  several  states 
should  get  just  his  share  of  the  available  food 
and  not  a  crumb  more.  The  rich  man  was  to 
eat  exactly,  to  the  fraction  of  an  ounce,  what 
the  poor  man  got.  He  was  to  have  no  greater 
a  share  of  clothing,  fuel,  and  light. 

70 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND    HIS    WAYS 

That  seemed  very  equitable  to  most  people. 
It  appealed  even  to  the  other  school,  but  it  did 
not  find  the  approval  of  those  who  were  interested 
in  the  perpetuation  of  the  old  system  of  social 
economy.  What  the  military  proposed  was  more 
than  the  socialists  had  ever  demanded.  The 
enforcement  of  that  measure  would  have  been 
the  triumph  absolute  of  the  Social-Democrats  of 
Central  Europe. 

But  for  that  the  Central  European  politician 
and  capitalist  was  not  ready.  With  the  capi- 
talist it  was  a  question  of:  WTiat  good  would 
it  do  to  win  the  war  if  socialism  was  thus  to 
become  supreme?  It  would  be  far  better  to 
go  down  in  military  defeat  and  preserve  the 
profit  system. 

The  struggle  was  most  interesting.  I  had 
occasion  to  discuss  it  with  a  man  whose  name 
I  cannot  give,  for  the  reason  that  it  might  go 
hard  with  him — and  I  am  not  making  war  on 
individuals.  At  any  rate,  the  man  is  now  a 
general  in  the  German  army.  He  was  then  a 
colonel  and  looked  upon  as  the  ablest  combination 
of  politician,  diplomatist,  and  soldier  Germany 
possessed,  as  he  had  indeed  proved.  . 

"You  are  a  socialist,"  I  said  to  him.  "But  you 
don't  seem  to  know  it." 

"I  am  a  socialist  and  do  know  it,"  said  the 
colonel.  "This  war  has  made  me  a  socialist. 
Wlien  this  affair  is  over,  and  I  am  spared,  I  will 
become  an  active  socialist." 

"And  the  reason?"  I  asked. 

That  question   the  colonel  did  not  answer. 
71 


THE    IRON    RATION 

He  could  not.  But  I  learned  indirectly  what 
his  reasons  were.  Little  by  little  he  unfolded 
them  to  me.  He  was  tired  of  the  butchery, 
all  the  more  tired  since  he  could  not  see  how 
bloody  strife  of  that  sort  added  anything  to  the 
well-being  of  man. 

"When  war  reaches  the  proportions  it  has 
to-day  it  ceases  to  be  a  military  exercise,"  he 
said  on  one  occasion.  "The  peoples  of  Europe 
are  at  one  another's  throat  to-day  because  one 
set  of  capitalists  is  afraid  that  it  is  to  lose  a 
part  of  its  dividends  to  another.  The  only 
way  we  have  of  getting  even  with  them  is  to 
turn  socialist  and  put  the  curb  on  our  masters." 

There  would  seem  to  be  no  direct  connection  be- 
tween this  sentiment  and  the  economic  tendency 
of  the  military  in  food  regulation.  Yet  there  is. 
The  men  in  the  trenches  knew  very  well  what 
they  were  fighting  for.  They  realized  that,  now 
the  struggle  was  on,  they  had  to  continue  with 
it,  but  they  had  also  made  up  their  mind  to  be 
heard  from  later  on. 

The  case  I  have  quoted  is  not  isolated.  I 
found  another  in  the  general  headquarters  of 
General  von  Stein,  then  commanding  a  sector 
on  the  Somme. 

In  the  camp  of  the  military  economists  was 
also  that  governing  element  which  manages  to 
drag  out  an  existence  of  genteel  shabbiness  on 
the  smallest  pay  given  an  official  of  that  class 
anywhere.  This  faction  also  favored  the  most 
sweeping  measures  of  war  economy. 

But  it  was  in  the  end  a  simple  matter  of  holding 

72 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND    HIS    WAYS 

these  extremists  down.  Their  opponents  always 
had  the  very  trenchant  argument  that  it  took 
money  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  that  this  money 
could  not  be  had  if  the  old  system  was  com- 
pletely overthrown.  There  was  little  to  be  said 
after  that.  To  do  anything  that  would  make 
war  loans  impossible  would  be  treason,  of  course, 
and  that  was  considered  going  too  far. 

Regulation  thereafter  resolved  itself  into  an 
endeavor  by  the  anti-capitalists  to  trim  their 
bete  noire  as  much  as  was  possible  and  safe,  and 
the  effort  of  the  economic  standpatters  to  come 
to  the  rescue  of  their  friends.  Now  the  one, 
then  the  other,  would  carry  off  the  honors,  and 
each  time  capital  and  public  would  either  gain 
or  lose.  It  depended  somewhat  on  the  season. 
When  war  loans  had  to  be  made,  the  anti- 
capitalist  school  would  ease  off  a  little,  and  when 
the  loan  had  been  subscribed  it  would  return  to 
its  old  tactics,  to  meet,  as  before,  the  very  effec- 
tive passive  resistance  of  the  standpatters. 

I  may  mention  here  that  much  of  what  has  been 
said  of  the  efficient  organization  of  the  German 
governments  is  buncombe — rot  pure  and  simple. 
In  the  case  of  the  Austrian  and  Hungarian 
governments  this  claim  has  never  been  made, 
could  never  have  been  made,  and  no  remark  of 
mine  is  necessary.  The  thing  that  has  been 
mistaken  for  efficient  organization  is  the  abso- 
lute obedience  to  authority  which  has  been  bred 
into  the  German  for  centuries.  Nor  is  that 
obedience  entirely  barrack  bred,  as  some  have 

asserted.     It  is  more  the  high  regard  for  munici- 

73 


THE    IRON   RATION 

pal  law  and  love  of  orderliness  than  the  fear 
of  the  drill-sergeant  that  finds  expression  in 
this  obedience.  How  to  make  good  use  of  this 
quality  requires  organizing  ability,  of  course. 
But  no  matter  how  the  efficient  organization  of 
the  Germans  is  viewed,  the  fact  remains  that  the 
German  people,  by  virtue  of  its  love  of  orderli- 
ness, is  highly  susceptible  to  the  impulses  of  the 
governing  class.  To  that  all  German  efficiency 
is  due. 

There  had  been  some  modification  of  distribu- 
tion early  in  1915.  That,  however,  was  entirely 
a  military  measure.  The  traffic  on  the  German 
state  railroads  was  unusually  heavy,  and  track- 
age, rolling-stock,  and  motive  power  had  to  be 
husbanded  if  a  breakdown  of  the  long  lines  of 
communication  between  the  French  and  Russian 
fronts  was  to  be  avoided.  There  was  no  thought 
of  social  economy.  The  thing  aimed  at  was  to 
keep  the  railroads  fit  for  military  service. 

But  by  August  of  1915  the  military  economists 
had  managed  to  get  their  hands  into  economic 
affairs.  It  cannot  be  said  that  their  efforts  were 
at  first  particularly  fortunate.  But  the  German 
general  staff  was  and  is  composed  of  men  quick 
to  learn.  These  men  had  then  acquired  at  least 
one  sound  notion,  and  this  was  that,  with  the 
railroads  of  the  several  states  under  military 
control,  they  could  "get  after"  the  industrial 
and  commercial  barons  whom  they  hated  so 
cordially. 

"In  the  interest  of  the  military  establishment" 
a  number  of  socio-economic  innovations  were 

74 


THE    FOOD    SHARK    AND    HIS    WAYS 

introduced.  The  first  of  them  was  the  distri- 
bution zone.  There  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  a 
clever  idea.  It  was  so  sound,  at  the  same  time, 
that  the  friends  of  the  trade  lords  in  the  govern- 
ment had  to  accept  it. 

The  arrangement  worked  something  like  this. 
A  wholesaler  of  flour  in  western  Hanover  might 
have  a  good  customer  in  the  city  of  Magdeburg. 
Up  to  now  he  had  been  permitted  to  ship  to  that 
customer  as  he  desired.  That  was  to  cease.  He 
could  now  ship  only  to  that  point  when  he  could 
prove  that  the  flour  was  not  needed  nearer  to 
where  it  was  stored.  But  to  prove  that  was  not 
easy — was  impossible,  in  fact. 

Since  the  German  state  railroads  had  in  the 
past  provided  much  of  the  revenue  of  the  several 
governments,  this  was  no  small  step  to  take. 
But  it  was  taken,  and  with  most  salutary  effects. 
The  trundling  of  freight  back  and  forth  ceased, 
and  the  food  shark  was  the  loser. 

Ostensibly,  this  had  been  done  in  order  to 
conserve  the  railroads.  Its  actual  purpose  was 
to  check  the  trade  lords  by  depriving  them  of 
one  of  their  arguments  why  the  price  of  necessi- 
ties should  be  high. 

What  was  accomplished  in  this  instance  should 
interest  any  community,  and  for  that  reason  I 
will  illustrate  it  with  an  example  of  "economic 
waste"  found  in  the  United  States. 

You  may  have  eaten  a  "Kansas  City"  steak 
in  San  Antonio,  Texas,  if  not  at  Corpus  Christi 
or  Brownsville.  (I  am  an  adopted  "native"  of 

that  region  and  inordinately  proud  of  it.)     If 

75 


THE    IRON    RATION 

you  had  investigated  the  history  of  that  steak  I 
think  you  would  have  been  somewhat  surprised. 
The  steer  which  produced  that  steak  might  have 
been  raised  in  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
After  that  the  animal  had  taken  a  trip  to  Okla- 
homa, where  better  pasture  put  more  meat  on 
its  back.  Still  later  a  farmer  in  Missouri  had 
fattened  the  steer  on  the  very  cream  of  his 
soil,  and  after  that  it  had  been  taken  to  Kansas 
City  or  Chicago  to  be  butchered  and  "storaged." 

It  might  then  have  dawned  upon  you  that  a 
great  deal  of  wasted  effort  was  hidden  in  the  price 
of  that  steak,  though  no  more  than  in  the  biscuit 
that  was  wheat  in  North  Dakota,  flour  in  Minne- 
apolis, biscuit  in  San  Francisco,  and  a  tooth- 
some morsel  to  follow  the  steak.  You  would 
be  a  dull  person  indeed  if  now  some  economic 
short  cut  had  not  occurred  to  you.  The  steak 
might  have  been  produced  by  Texas  grass  and 
North  Texas  corn,  and  the  like,  and  it  need  never 
have  traveled  farther  than  San  Antonio.  The 
biscuit  might  have  been  given  its  form  in  Minne- 
apolis. 

It  was  so  in  Germany  before  the  military 
social  economists  took  a  hand  in  the  scheme, 
though  the  waste  was  by  no  means  as  great  as  in 
the  cases  I  have  cited,  seeing  that  all  of  the  em- 
pire is  a  little  smaller  than  the  Lone  Star  State. 

But  the  little  trundling  there  was  had  to  go. 

In  the  winter  of  1915-16  this  budding  economic 
idea  was  still  in  chrysalis,  however.  The  several 
governments  still  looked  upon  it  entirely  as  a 
measure  for  the  conservation  of  their  railroads. 

76 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND    HIS    WAYS 

What  is  more,  they  were  afraid  to  give  the  prin- 
ciple too  wide  an  application.  In  the  first  place, 
the  extension  of  the  scheme  into  the  socio- 
economic  structure  seemed  difficult  technically. 
It  was  realized  that  the  reduction  of  traffic  on 
the'  rails  was  one  thing,  and  that  the  simplifying 
of  distribution  was  quite  another.  To  effect  the 
first  the  Minister  of  Railroads  had  merely  to  get 
in  touch  with  the  chiefs  of  the  "direction,'* 
as  the  districts  of  railroading  are  called.  The 
chiefs  would  forward  instruction  to  their  division 
heads,  and  after  that  everything  was  in  order. 

But  distribution  was  another  thing.  In  that 
case  the  several  governments  did  not  deal  with 
a  machine  attuned  to  obey  the  slightest  impulse 
from  above,  and  which  as  readily  transmitted 
impulses  from  the  other  end.  Far  from  it.  Not 
to  meddle  with  distribution,  so  long  as  this  was 
not  absolutely  necessary,  was  deemed  the  better 
course,  especially  since  all  such  meddling  would 
have  to  be  done  along  lines  drawn  a  thousand 
times  by  the  Central  European  socialist. 

But  the  food  shark  had  to  be  checked  some- 
how. The  unrest  due  to  his  sharp  practices 
was  on  the  increase.  The  minimum-maximum 
price  decrees  which  had  been  issued  were  all 
very  well,  but  so  long  as  there  was  a  chance  to 
speculate  and  hoard  they  were  to  the  masses  a 
detriment  rather  than  a  benefit. 

Let  me  show  you  how  the  food  shark  operated. 
The  case  I  quote  is  Austrian,  but  I  could  name 
hundreds  of  similar  instances  in  Germany.  I 
have  selected  this  case  because  I  knew  the  man 

77 


THE    IRON    RATION 

by  sight  and  attended  several  sessions  of  his 
trial.  First  I  will  briefly  outline  what  law  he 
had  violated. 

To  lay  low  what  was  known  as  chain  trade 
throughout  Central  Europe,  Kettenhandel,  the 
governments  had  decreed  that  foodstuffs  could 
be  distributed  only  in  this  manner:  The  pro- 
ducer could  sell  to  a  commission-man,  but  the 
commission-man  could  sell  only  to  the  whole- 
saler, and  the  wholesaler  only  to  the  retailer. 

That  appears  rational  enough.  But  neither 
commission-man  nor  wholesaler  liked  to  adhere 
to  the  scheme.  Despite  the  law,  they  would  pass 
the  same  thing  from  one  to  another,  and  every 
temporary  owner  of  the  article  would  add  a 
profit,  and  no  small  one.  To  establish  the  needed 
control  the  retailer  was  to  demand  from  the 
wholesaler  the  bill  of  sale  by  which  the  goods 
had  passed  into  his  hands,  while  the  wholesaler 
could  make  the  commission-man  produce  docu- 
mentary evidence  showing  how  much  he  had 
paid  the  producer.  Under  the  scheme  a  mill, 
or  other  establishment  where  commodities  were 
collected,  was  a  producer. 

Mr.  B.  had  bought  of  the  Fiume  Rice  Mills 
Company  a  car-load  of  best  rice,  the  car-load 
in  Central  Europe  being  generally  ten  tons. 
He  had  brought  the  rice  to  Vienna  and  there 
was  an  eager  market  for  it,  as  may  be  imagined. 
But  he  wanted  to  make  a  large  profit,  and  that 
was  impossible  if  he  went  about  the  sale  of  the 
rice  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  government. 
The  wholesaler  or  retailer  to  whom  he  sold  might 

78 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND    HIS   WAYS 

wish  to  see  the  bill  of  sale,  and  then  he  was  sure 
to  report  him  to  the  authorities  if  the  profit 
were  greater  than  the  maximum  which  the  gov- 
ernment had  provided.  To  overcome  all  this  he 
did  what  many  others  were  doing,  and  in  that 
manner  made  on  the  single  car  of  rice  which 
he  sold  to  a  hunger-ridden  community  the  neat 
little  profit  of  thirty-five  hundred  crowns. 

Something  went  wrong,  however.  Mr.  B.  was 
arrested  and  tried  on  the  charge  of  price-boosting 
by  means  of  chain  trade.  When  the  rice  got  to 
Vienna  he  had  sold  it  to  a  dummy.  The  dummy 
sold  it  to  another  dummy,  and  Mr.  B.  bought 
it  again  from  the  second  dummy.  In  this  manner 
he  secured  the  necessary  figures  on  the  bill  of 
sale  and  imposed  them  on  the  wholesaler.  The 
court  was  lenient  in  his  case.  He  was  fined  five 
thousand  crowns,  was  given  six  weeks  in  jail, 
and  lost  his  license  to  trade.  Preistreiberei — to 
wit — price-boosting  did  not  pay  in  this  instance. 

After  all,  that  sort  of  work  was  extremely 
crude  when  compared  with  some  other  speci- 
mens, though  the  more  refined  varieties  of 
piracy  needed  usually  the  connivance  of  some 
public  official,  generally  a  man  connected  with 
the  railroad  management.  Many  of  these  offi- 
cials were  poorly  paid  when  the  war  began  and 
the  government  could  not  see  its  way  clear  to 
paying  them  more.  The  keen  desire  of  keeping 
up  the  shabby  gentility  that  goes  with  Central 
European  officialdom,  and  very  often  actual 
want,  caused  these  men  to  fall  by  the  roadside. 

There  was  a  little  case  that  affected   three 

79 


THE    IRON   RATION 

hundred  cars  of  wheat  flour.  Though  Hungary 
and  Austria  had  then  no  wheat  flour  to  spare  for 
export,  the  flour  was  actually  exported  through 
Switzerland  into  Italy,  though  that  country 
was  then  at  war  with  the  Dual  Monarchy! 
Thirty-two  men  were  arrested,  and  two  of  them 
committed  suicide  before  the  law  laid  hands  on 
them.  The  odd  part  of  it  was  that  the  flour 
had  crossed  the  Austro-Hungarian  border  at 
Marchegg,  where  the  shipment  had  been  ex- 
amined by  the  military  border  police.  It  had 
then  gone  across  Austria  as  a  shipment  of  "ce- 
ment in  bags,"  had  passed  as  such  into  Switzer- 
land, and  there  the  agents  of  the  food  sharks  in 
Budapest  had  turned  it  over  to  an  Italian  buyer. 
Nobody  would  have  been  the  wiser  had  it  not 
been  that  a  shipment  of  some  thirty  cars  was 
wrecked.  Lo  and  behold,  the  cement  was  flour! 
They  had  some  similar  cases  in  Germany, 
though  most  of  them  involved  chain  trading  in 
textiles.  The  unmerciful  application  of  the  law 
did  not  deter  the  profiteer  at  all,  any  more 
than  capital  punishment  has  ever  succeeded  in 
totally  eradicating  murder.  There  was  always 
somebody  who  would  take  a  chance,  and  it 
was  the  leakage  rather  than  the  general  scheme 
of  distribution  that  did  all  the  damage.  What- 
ever necessity  and  commodity  had  once  passed 
out  of  the  channel  of  legitimate  business  had  to 
stay  out  of  it  if  those  responsible  for  the  de- 
flection were  not  to  come  in  conflict  with  the 
law,  and  there  were  always  those  who  were  only 

too  glad  to  buy  such  stores.     The  wholesaler 

so 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND    HIS   WAYS 

received  more  than  the  maximum  price  he  could 
have  asked  of  the  retailer,  and  the  consumer 
was  glad  to  get  the  merchandise  at  almost  any 
price  so  that  he  could  increase  his  hoard. 

But  the  governments  were  loth  to  put  the 
brake  on  too  much  of  the  economic  machinery. 
They  depended  on  that  machinery  for  money 
to  carry  on  the  war,  and  large  numbers  of  men 
would  be  needed  to  supervise  a  system  of  dis- 
tribution that  thwarted  the  middleman's  greed 
effectively.  These  men  were  not  available. 

The  minimum-maximum  price  scheme  had 
shown  itself  defective,  moreover.  In  theory  this 
was  all  very  well,  but  in  food  regulation  it  is 
often  a  question  of:  The  government  proposes 
and  the  individual  disposes.  The  minimum 
price  was  the  limit  which  any  would-be  buyer 
could  offer  the  seller.  In  the  case  of  the  farmer 
it  meant  that  for  a  kilogram  (2.205  pounds)  of 
potatoes  he  would  get,  let  us  say,  five  cents. 
Nobody  could  offer  him  less.  The  maximum 
price  was  to  protect  the  consumer,  who  for  the 
same  potatoes  was  supposed  to  pay  no  more 
than  six  and  one-half  cents.  The  middlemen 
were  to  fit  into  this  scheme  as  best  they  could. 
The  one  and  one-half  cents  had  to  cover  freight 
charges,  operation  cost,  and  profit.  The  margin 
was  ample  in  a  farm-warehouse-store-kitchen 
scheme  of  distribution.  But  it  left  nothing  for 
the  speculator,  being  intended  to  stimulate  pro- 
duction and  ease  the  burden  which  the  con- 
sumer was  bearing.  Not  the  least  purpose  of 
the  scheme  was  to  keep  the  money  out  of  the 

81 


THE    IRON    RATION 

hands  of  food-dealers,  who  would  hoard  their 
ill-gotten  gain.  The  government  needed  an 
active  flow  of  currency. 

All  of  which  was  well  enough  so  long  as  the 
supply  of  food  was  not  really  short.  But  when 
it  grew  short  another  factor  entered  the  arena. 
Everybody  began  to  hoard.  The  quantities 
which  the  authorities  released  for  consumption 
were  not  intended  to  be  stored,  however.  Stor- 
ing food  by  incompetents  is  most  wasteful,  as 
the  massacre  of  the  pigs  had  shown,  and  hoard- 
ing, moreover,  gave  more  food  to  the  rich  than 
to  the  poor;  so  for  the  time  being  it  could  not 
be  encouraged  too  openly,  despite  the  revenues 
that  came  from  it. 

But  the  hoarder  is  hard  to  defeat.  The  con- 
sumer knew  and  trusted  the  retailer,  the  re- 
tailer was  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the  whole- 
saler, and  the  rapacious  commission-man  knew 
where  to  get  the  goods. 

He  made  the  farmer  a  better  offer  than  the 
minimum  price  he  usually  received.  He  paid 
six  cents  for  the  kilogram  of  potatoes,  or  even 
seven.  Then  he  sold  in  a  manner  which  brought 
the  potatoes  to  the  consumer  for  eleven  cents 
through  the  "food  speak-easy."  The  middleman 
and  retailer  had  now  cleared  four  cents  on  the 
kilogram,  instead  of  one  and  one-half  cents; 
their  outlay  deducted,  they  would  make  a  net 
profit  running  from  two  and  one-half  cents  to  three 
and  one-half  cents  per  2.205  American  pounds 
of  potatoes.  This  sort  of  traffic  ran  into  the 
tens  of  thousands  of  tons.  The  food  shark  was 

82 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND    HIS    WAYS 

making  hay  while  the  weather  was  good.  The 
entire  range  of  human  alimentation  was  at  his 
mercy,  and  often  the  government  closed  an  eye 
because  the  food  shark  would  subscribe  hand- 
somely to  the  next  war  loan. 

In  the  winter  of  1915-16  I  made  several  trips 
into  the  country  to  see  how  things  were  getting 
along.  On  one  occasion  I  was  in  Moravia.  I 
had  heard  rumors  that  here  the  food  shark  had 
found  Paradise.  It  was  a  fact.  Near  a  freight- 
yard  in  Briinn  a  potato-dealer  was  installed. 
He  bought  potatoes  in  any  quantity,  being  in 
effect  merely  the  agent  of  the  Vienna  Bank  Ring 
that  was  doing  a  food-commission  business  as  a 
side  line.  I  don't  know  why  the  government 
permitted  this,  except  that  this  "concession" 
was  a  quid  pro  quo  for  war-loan  subscriptions. 

A  little  old  Czech  farmer  drove  up.  He  had 
some  thirty  bags  of  potatoes  on  his  sleigh,  all 
well  protected  by  straw  and  blankets.  The 
food  shark  looked  the  load  over  and  offered  the 
minimum  price  for  that  grade,  which  on  that 
day  was  eighteen  hellers  the  kilogram,  about 
one  and  three-fourths  cents  American  per  pound 
avoirdupois. 

The  farmer  protested.  "My  daughter  in 
Vienna  tells  me  that  she  has  to  pay  thirty-six 
hellers  a  kilogram,"  he  said. 

"Not  according  to  the  maximum  price  set  by 
the  government,  which  is  twenty-one  hellers 
just  now,"  was  the  bland  remark  of  the  agent. 

"That  is  all  very  well,  sir!"  returned  the 
farmer.  "But  you  know  as  well  as  I  do  that 

83 


THE    IRON    RATION 

when  my  daughter  wants  potatoes  she  must  pay 
thirty-six  hellers  or  whatever  the  retailer  wants. 
She  writes  me  that  when  she  stands  in  the  food- 
line  she  never  gets  anything.  So  she  does  busi- 
ness with  a  man  who  always  has  potatoes." 

The  food  shark  had  no  time  to  lose.  Other 
farmers  came. 

"Eighteen  hellers  or  nothing,"  he  said. 

The  farmer  thought  it  over  for  a  while  and 
then  sold. 

The  reader  uninitiated  in  war-food  conditions 
may  ask:  Why  didn't  that  farmer  ship  his 
daughter  the  potatoes  she  needed?  He  couldn't, 
of  course.  The  economic-zone  arrangement  pre- 
vented him.  That  zone  was  the  means  which 
the  government  employed  to  regulate  and  re- 
strict distribution  and  consumption  without  giv- 
ing money  an  opportunity  to  tarnish  in  the  hands 
of  people  who  might  not  subscribe  to  war  loans. 
The  zone  "mobilized"  the  pennies  by  concen- 
trating them  in  the  banks  and  making  them  avail- 
able en  masse  for  the  war. 

Yet  the  fact  was  that  the  daughter  of  the 
farmer,  buying  potatoes  clandestinely,  may  have 
bought  the  very  product  of  her  father's  land. 
Who  in  that  case  got  the  eighteen  hellers  differ- 
ence? The  middlemen,  of  course.  That  the 
poor  woman,  in  order  to  feed  her  children,  might 
have  been  able  to  use  to  good  advantage  two 
kilograms  at  thirty-six  hellers,  instead  of  one,  is 
very  likely,  but  this  consideration  did  not  bother 
the  food  sharks  known  as  the  Vienna  Bank  Ring. 

On  one  occasion  the  same  group  of  food  specu- 

84 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND    HIS    WAYS 

lators  permitted  two  million  eggs  to  spoil  in  a 
railroad  yard  at  Vienna  because  the  price  was 
not  good  enough.  The  Bank  Ring  was  just  then 
agitating  for  a  better  price  for  eggs  and  hoped 
that  the  maximum  would  be  raised.  But  the 
government  was  a  little  slow  on  this  occasion, 
and  before  the  price  went  up,  "according  to 
regulation,"  the  eggs  were  an  unpleasant  memory 
to  the  yard-hands.  Naturally,  nobody  was 
prosecuted  in  this  case.  I  understood  at  the 
time  that  the  Bank  Ring  presented  to  the  Aus- 
trian government  a  sort  of  ultimatum,  which 
read:  "No  profits,  no  war  loans.'*  The  govern- 
ment surrendered. 

The  fact  that  many  of  these  speculators  were 
of  the  Jewish  persuasion  caused  a  revival  of  a 
rather  mild  sort  of  anti-Semitism.  Several  of 
the  Christian  newspapers  made  much  of  this, 
but  the  government  censors  soon  put  an  end  to 
that.  This  was  no  time  for  the  pot  to  call  the 
kettle  black.  The  food  shark  came  from  all 
classes,  and  the  Austrian  nobility  was  not  poorly 
represented. 

There  was  the  case  of  the  princely  house  of 
Schwarzenberg,  for  instance.  The  family  is  not 
of  German  blood  to  any  extent,  as  the  name 
would  seem  to  imply.  Nowadays  it  is  distinctly 
Bohemian,  and  in  Bohemia  its  vast  estates  and 
properties  are  located.  The  managers  of  the 
Schwarzenbergs  had  a  corner  on  almost  every- 
thing that  was  raised  in  the  localities  of  the 
family's  domains.  In  the  winter  of  1915-16  they 
forced  up,  to  unheard-of  heights,  the  price  of 

7  85 


THE    IRON    RATION 

prunes.  The  prune  was  a  veritable  titbit  then, 
and  with  most  people  in  Central  Europe  it  had 
come  to  be  the  only  fruit  they  could  get  in 
the  winter.  Its  nutritive  value  is  great,  and 
since  every  pfennig  and  heller  had  to  buy  a 
maximum  in  food  values  the  demand  for  prunes 
soon  exceeded  greatly  the  supply — so  everybody 
thought. 

But  the  trouble  was  not  a  shortage.  The  crop 
had  been  good,  in  fact.  Orchards,  so  far  as  they 
had  not  been  harmed  by  the  paucity  of  copper 
for  the  manufacture  of  vitriol  and  Bordeaux 
mixture  for  the  extermination  of  tree  parasites, 
had  not  suffered  by  the  war.  The  trees  bore  as 
usual,  and  fruit  crops  were  generally  what  they 
had  been  before.  Nor  had  there  been  an  in- 
crease in  operation  expenses,  aside  from  what 
little  extra  pay  there  was  given  those  who 
gathered  the  crop. 

But  the  Schwarzenbergs  and  a  few  others 
made  up  their  minds  that  they,  too,  would  get 
a  little  of  the  war  profits.  They  also  were  heavy 
investors  in  war  loans. 

So  long  as  this  corner  was  confined  to  prunes 
and  other  fruits  the  thing  presented  no  great 
problem — as  problems  went  then.  But  the  ac- 
tivity of  this  particular  ring  did  not  stop  there. 
Its  members  dealt  in  everything  the  soil  pro- 
duced. 

During  the  first  months  of  the  war  there  had 
been  set  aside  by  the  several  military  authori- 
ties certain  agricultural  districts  from  which  the 
armies  were  to  be  supplied  with  food,  forage, 

86 


THE    FOOD    SHARK    AND    HIS    WAYS 

and  the  like.  The  idea  was  not  a  bad  one. 
The  armies  were  voracious  consumers,  and  a 
scheme  which  would  concentrate  over  as  small 
an  area  as  possible  the  supplies  needed  meant  a 
great  saving  of  time  and  effort  when  shipments 
had  to  be  made. 

That  would  have  been  very  well  had  the 
several  governments  bought  all  supplies  from 
the  producer  direct  through  the  medium  of  a 
purchasing  branch  of  the  commissary  depart- 
ment. Such  was  not  the  case,  however.  The 
government  continued  to  buy  through  war  pur- 
veyors, who  had,  indeed,  been  curbed  a  little, 
but  only  in  exchange  for  other  privileges.  Stand- 
ing in  well  with  the  military,  these  men  were 
able  to  sell  out  of  the  commissary-supply  zones 
what  the  armies  did  not  need — poultry,  butter, 
fats,  and  eggs,  for  instance.  These  little  side 
lines  paid  very  well.  I  remember  discovering 
on  one  trip  that  near  Prague  could  be  bought 
a  whole  goose  for  what  in  Vienna  two  pounds 
would  cost.  Since  the  Bohemian  geese  are  never 
small  birds,  and  weigh  from  nine  to  twelve 
pounds,  this  was  a  case  of  five  to  one.  When  in 
the  cities  butter  was  almost  a  thing  unknown, 
I  was  able  to  buy  in  Bohemia  any  quantity 
at  the  very  reasonable  price  of  twenty-seven 
cents  American  a  pound.  In  Vienna  it  cost  one 
dollar  and  thirty  cents  a  pound  after  the  food 
shark  had  been  satisfied. 

The  military-supply-zone  arrangement  made 
exports  from  districts  affected  to  the  large 
population  centers  impossible,  except  upon  spe- 

87 


THE    IRON    RATION 

cial  permit,  which  was  not  easy  to  get  by  the 
man  who  had  no  "protection,"  as  they  put  it  in 
Austria.  The  food  shark  always  interfered.  In 
doing  that  he  had  a  sort  of  double  objective. 
Scarcity  was  forcing  up  the  prices  in  the  cities, 
and  when  the  government  had  been  persuaded 
that  the  prevailing  maximum  price  was  not 
"fair  to  the  farmer"  the  shark  had  a  reservoir 
to  draw  upon. 

I  found  a  similar  state  of  affairs  in  Galicia. 
On  the  very  outskirts  of  Cracow  I  ran  into  a 
veritable  land  of  plenty.  The  military  zone 
had  completely  isolated  this  district,  and  while 
elsewhere  people  had  not  seen  butter  in  weeks,  it 
was  used  here  for  cooking,  and  lard  served  as 
axle-grease.  Finally  the  zone  was  opened  to  the 
civilian  consumer.  But  this  concession  bene- 
fitted  only  the  food  sharks.  In  the  population 
centers  prices  remained  what  they  had  been. 

I  found  similar  conditions  in  Germany,  though 
the  cause  was  not  entirely  the  same. 

The  Mecklenburg  states  still  have  a  govern- 
ment and  public  administration  scheme  that  has 
come  down  to  our  day  from  the  Middle  Ages 
without  much  modification.  They  have  no  con- 
stitution as  yet,  and  they  would  have  no  rail- 
roads, I  suppose,  were  it  not  that  their  neighbors 
had  to  get  access  to  one  another  through  these 
principalities.  The  two  countries  are  hard- 
boiled  eggs  indeed.  And  the  Mecklenburgers  are 
like  their  government.  I  understand  that  some 
enlightened  ruler  once  offered  his  people  constitu- 
tional government,  but  had  a  refusal  for  his  pains. 

88 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND   HIS    WAYS 

Enough  food  had  been  hoarded  in  Mecklen- 
burg to  meet  all  Germany's  shortage  three 
months.  But  nobody  could  get  it  out.  The 
Imperial  German  government  had  no  say  in  the 
matter.  The  several  German  states  are  as 
jealous  of  their  vested  rights  as  any  American 
State  could  possibly  be.  And  the  Mecklenburg 
government  had  little  influence  with  its  farmers. 
The  case  was  rather  interesting.  Here  was  an 
absolute  government  that  was  more  impotent 
in  its  dealings  with  its  subjects  than  constitu- 
tional Austria  was.  But  the  Mecklenburg  farm- 
ers were  of  one  mind,  and  that  quality  is  often 
stronger  than  a  regularly  established  constitu- 
tion— it  is  stronger  for  the  reason  that  it  may 
be  an  unwritten  constitution. 

The  cellars  and  granaries  of  Mecklenburg 
were  full  to  overflowing.  But  there  the  thing 
ended,  until  one  day  the  screws  were  put  on  by 
the  Imperial  German  government.  The  Meck- 
lenburgers  had  been  good  war-loan  buyers,  how- 
ever. Hard-headed  farmers  often  prefer  direct 
methods. 

In  Westphalia  they  had  similar  food  islands, 
and  from  Osnabriick  to  the  North  Sea  victuals 
had  generally  to  be  pried  loose  with  a  crowbar. 
There  the  farmer  was  the  peasant  of  the  good 
old  type;  he  was  generally  a  hard  person  to  deal 
with.  It  was  shown  that  while  he  did  not  mind 
being  classed  as  low-caste — Bauemstand — he 
also  had  cultivated  a  castal  independence.  He 
would  doff  his  cap  to  the  government  official, 
and  all  the  time  resolve  the  firmer  not  to  let 

89 


his  crops  get  out  of  his  hands  in  a  manner  not 
agreeable  to  him. 

Passive  resistance  is  too  much  for  any  govern- 
ment, no  matter  how  absolute  and  strong  it 
may  be.  It  can  be  overcome  only  by  cajolery. 

The  clandestine  food-buyer  had  better  luck,  of 
course.  He  knew  how  to  impress  and  persuade 
the  thickhead,  and  then  made  the  dear  general 
public  pay  for  this  social  accomplishment,  which 
may  be  as  it  should  be.  He  also  frustrated  the 
plan  of  the  government.  Pennies  so  mobilized 
did  not  always  go  into  war  loans. 

To  the  men  in  high  places  this  was  not  un- 
known, of  course.  They  realized  that  something 
would  have  to  be  done  soon  or  late  to  put  this 
department  of  war  economics  on  a  smooth 
track.  Appeals  not  to  hoard  and  not  to  specu- 
late in  the  interest  of  the  nation  were  all  very 
well,  but  they  led  to  nothing. 

Still,  it  would  not  do  to  undertake  the  major 
operation  on  the  vitals  of  the  socio-economic 
organism  which  alone  could  set  matters  right. 
More  doctoring  was  done  during  the  summer  of 
1916.  Those  who  did  it  were  being  misled  by 
the  will-o'-the-wisp  of  a  good  crop  prospect. 

In  August  of  that  year  I  had  an  interview  with 
Dr.  Karl  Helfferich,  the  first  German  food-dicta- 
tor. He  was  averse  just  then  to  more  food  regu- 
lation. He  had  done  wonders  as  it  was.  Every- 
body knew  that,  though  he  was  most  modest 
about  it.  More  regulation  of  the  economic  ma- 
chine seemed  undesirable  to  him.  He  did  not 
want  to  wholly  unmake  and  remodel  the  in- 

90 


THE    FOOD    SHARK   AND    HIS    WAYS 

dustrial  and  commercial  organism  of  the  state, 
and  preliminary  crop  reports  were  such  that 
further  interference  seemed  unnecessary  at  that 
moment. 

As  it  was,  the  rye  crop  of  Germany  met  ex- 
pectations. Wheat  fell  short,  however,  Oats 
were  good,  but  the  potatoes  made  a  poor  show- 
ing, as  did  a  number  of  other  crops  that  year. 

Crop  returns  in  Austria  were  disappointing  on 
the  whole.  The  spring  had  been  very  wet  and 
the  summer  unusually  dry.  When  the  harvest- 
ing season  came  a  long  rainy  spell  ruined  another 
10  per  cent,  of  the  cereals.  Potatoes  failed  to 
give  a  good  yield.  In  Hungary  the  outlook  was 
equally  discouraging,  and  reports  from  the  oc- 
cupied territories  in  Poland,  Serbia,  and  Mace- 
donia showed  that  what  the  "economic  troops" 
and  occupation  forces  had  raised  would  be  needed 
by  the  armies. 

To  fill  the  cup  of  anxiety  to  the  brim,  Rou- 
mania  declared  war.  The  several  governments 
had  made  arrangements  to  give  furlough  to  as 
many  farm-workers  as  possible,  that  the  crops 
might  be  brought  in  properly.  The  entry  of 
Roumania  into  the  war  made  that  impossible. 
And  the  moment  for  entry  had  been  chosen  well 
indeed.  By  reason  of  its  warmer  climate,  Rou- 
mania had  been  able  to  harvest  a  good  three- 
quarters  of  her  crops  by  August,  and  the  Indian 
corn  could  be  left  to  the  older  men,  women, 
and  children  to  gather.  But  in  the  Central 
states  it  was  different.  Much  of  the  wheat  had 
been  harvested,  and  some  rye  had  also  been 

91 


THE    IRON    RATION 

brought  in,  but  the  bulk  of  the  field  produce, 
upon  which  the  populations  depended  for  their 
nourishment,  was  still  in  the  fields. 

I  have  never  experienced  so  gloomy  a  time  as 
this.  There  was  a  new  enemy,  and  this  enemy 
was  spreading  all  over  Transylvania.  The  short- 
age of  labor  was  greater  than  ever  before,  with 
the  weather  more  unfavorable. 

What  the  conditions  in  Austria  and  Hungary 
were  at  that  time  I  was  able  to  ascertain  on 
several  trips  to  the  Roumanian  front.  Cereals 
that  should  have  been  under  roof  long  ago 
were  standing  in  the  fields,  spilling  their  kernels 
when  rain  was  not  rotting  them.  Those  who 
were  left  to  reap  struggled  heroically  with  the 
huge  task  on  their  hands,  but  were  not  equal  to 
it.  If  ever  the  specter  of  famine  had  stalked 
through  the  Central  states,  those  were  the  days. 

All  this  left  the  food  shark  undisturbed.  He 
laid  hands  on  all  he  could  and  was  ready  to 
squeeze  hard  when  the  time  came. 


VI 

THE  HOARDERS 

THE  fact  that  business  relations  in  Central 
Europe  are  very  often  family  and  friendship 
affairs  was  to  prove  an  almost  insuperable  ob- 
stacle in  government  food  regulation.  It  led  to 
the  growth  of  what  for  the  want  of  a  better 
term  I  will  call:  The  food  "speak-easy." 

The  word  Kundschaft  may  be  translated  into 
English  as  "  circle  of  customers."  The  term 
"trade"  will  not  fit,  for  the  reason  that  relations 
between  old  customers  and  storekeeper  are  usu- 
ally the  most  intimate.  The  dealer  may  have 
known  the  mother  of  the  woman  who  buys  in 
his  shop.  He  may  have  also  known  her  grand- 
mother. At  any  rate,  it  is  certain  that  the  cus- 
tomer has  dealt  at  the  store  ever  since  she  moved 
into  the  district.  Loyalty  in  Central  Europe  goes 
so  far  that  a  customer  would  think  twice  before 
changing  stores,  and  if  a  change  is  made  it  be- 
comes almost  a  matter  of  personal  affront.  The 
storekeeper  will  feel  that  he  has  done  his  best 
by  the  customer  and  has  found  no  appreciation. 

Not  versed  in  the  ways  of  Europe,  I  had  several 
experiences  of  this  peculiarity. 

93 


THE    IRON    RATION 

While  in  Vienna  I  used  to  buy  my  smoking 
materials  of  a  little  woman  who  kept  a  tobacco 
"Traffic"  on  the  Alleestrasse.  I  did  not  show 
up  when  at  the  front,  of  course,  and,  making 
many  such  trips,  my  custom  was  a  rather  spas- 
modic affair.  The  woman  seemed  to  be  worried 
about  it. 

"It  is  very  odd,  sir,  that  you  stay  away  alto- 
gether at  times,"  she  said.  "Is  it  possible  that 
you  are  not  satisfied  with  my  goods?  They  are 
the  same  as  those  you  get  elsewhere,  you  know." 

That  was  true  enough.  In  Austria  trade  in 
tobacco  is  a  government  monopoly,  and  one  buys 
the  same  brands  at  all  the  stores. 

"I  am  not  always  in  town,"  I  explained. 

I  was  to  get  my  bringing-up  supplemented 
presently.  Those  who  know  the  Viennese  will 
best  understand  what  happened. 

"You  are  a  foreigner,  sir,"  continued  the 
woman,  "and  cannot  be  expected  to  know  the 
ways  of  this  country.  May  I  give  you  a  little 
advice?" 

I  said  that  I  had  never  been  above  taking 
advice  from  anybody. 

"You  will  get  much  better  service  from  store- 
keepers in  this  country  if  you  become  a  regular 
customer,  and  especially  in  these  days.  You  see, 
that  is  the  rule  here.  Smoking  material,  as  you 
know,  is  already  short,  and  I  fear  that  in  a  little 
while  there  will  not  be  enough  to  go  around." 

The  tip  was  not  lost  on  me,  especially  since  I 
found  that  the  woman  really  meant  well.  She 
had  counted  on  me  as  one  of  those  whom  sbe 

94 


THE    HOARDERS 

intended  to  supply  with  smokes  when  the  short- 
age became  chronic,  which  it  soon  would  be. 
And  that  she  proposed  doing  because  I  was  such 
a  "pleasant  fellow.'*  After  that  I  took  pains  to 
announce  my  departure  whenever  I  had  occasion 
to  leave  the  city,  and  I  found  that,  long  after 
the  "tobacco-line"  was  one  of  the  facts  of  the 
time,  the  woman  would  lay  aside  for  me  every 
day  ten  cigarettes.  My  small  trade  had  come 
to  be  one  of  the  things  which  the  woman  counted 
upon — and  she  wanted  no  fickleness  from  me  in 
return  for  the  thought  she  gave  my  welfare. 

What  a  food  shortage  would  lead  to  under 
such  conditions  can  be  imagined.  The  store- 
keeper would  look  out  for  his  regular  customers, 
before  any  other  person  got  from  him  so  much 
as  sight  of  the  food. 

The  government  regulations  were  less  partial, 
however.  The  several  food  cards,  with  which 
would-be  purchasers  were  provided,  were  in- 
tended to  be  honored  on  sight  so  long  as  the  quota 
they  stipulated  was  there. 

The  food  "speak-easy"  had  its  birth  in  this. 
The  storekeeper  would  know  that  such  and  such 
customer  needed  sundry  items  and  would  re- 
serve them.  The  customer  might  never  get 
them  if  she  stood  in  line,  so  she  called  afterward 
at  the  back  door,  or  came  late  of  nights  when 
the  sign  "Everything  Sold"  hung  in  the  window. 

Had  this  illicit  traffic  stopped  there  and  then 
things  would  have  been  well  enough.  But  it 
did  not.  Before  very  long  it  degenerated  into 
a  wild  scramble  for  food  for  hoarding  purposes. 

95 


THE    IRON   RATION 

As  yet  the  several  governments  were  not 
greatly  interested  in  distribution  methods  that 
really  were  of  service.  The  avenue  from  whole- 
saler to  retailer  was  still  open.  The  food  cards 
were  issued  to  the  public  to  limit  consumption, 
and  the  law  paragraph  quoted  on  them  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  infraction  of  the  regu- 
lations would  be  punished  no  matter  by  whom 
committed. 

Most  of  the  little  coupons  were  half  the  size 
of  a  postage  stamp,  and  so  many  of  them  were 
collected  by  a  storekeeper  in  the  course  of  a 
week  that  an  army  of  men  would  have  been 
needed  if  the  things  were  to  be  counted.  So  the 
governments  took  a  chance  with  the  honesty 
of  the  retailers.  That  was  a  mistake,  of  course, 
but  it  was  the  only  way. 

There  was  at  first  no  control  of  any  sort 
over  the  quantities  bought  by  the  retailer.  In 
fact,  he  could  buy  as  much  as  he  liked  so  long 
as  the  wholesaler  did  not  have  another  friend 
retailer  to  keep  in  mind.  The  other  retailer  was 
doing  business  along  the  same  lines,  and  could 
not  be  overlooked;  otherwise  there  would  be 
the  danger  of  losing  him  as  soon  as  the  war  was 
over;  in  those  days  it  was  still  "soon." 

The  wholesaler  maintained  the  best  of  rela- 
tions with  the  retailer,  despite  the  fact  that  he 
was  of  a  superior  class.  The  two  would  meet 
now  and  then  in  the  cafes,  and  there  the  some- 
what unequal  business  friendship  would  be  fos- 
tered over  the  marble-topped  table. 

The    customer    of    the    retailer    was    already 

96 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

STREET    SCENE   AT    EISENBACH,    SOUTHERN   GERMANY 

From  the  villages  and  small  towns  is  recruited  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  German  army. 


THE    HOARDERS 

hoarding  food.  The  retailer  tried  to  do  all  the 
business  he  could,  of  course,  and  in  the  pursuit 
of  this  policy  bought  from  the  wholesaler  all 
he  could  possibly  get  for  money  or  love. 

Commission-men  were  licensed  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  when  food  regulation  became  a  little 
more  stringent  they  were  obliged  to  make  some 
sort  of  a  slovenly  report  on  the  quantities  they 
handled.  But  the  government  food  commissions 
did  not  have  the  necessary  personnel  to  keep 
close  tally  of  these  reports.  This  led  to  partial 
returns  by  the  middlemen,  a  practice  which  en- 
tailed no  particular  risk  so  long  as  the  govern- 
ment did  not  actually  control  and  direct  the 
buying  of  foodstuffs  in  the  country  and  at  the 
mills. 

Business  moved  smartly  as  the  result  of  this 
combination  of  circumstances.     The  wholesaler 
bought   twice  as   much   from   the   commission- 
man,  and  the  latter  had  to  buy,  accordingly,  in' 
the  country. 

The  maximum  prices  which  the  government 
set  upon  foods  about  to  enter  into  possession 
of  the  consumer  were  invariably  accompanied 
by  minimum  prices  which  the  producer  was  to 
get.  Reversely,  the  arrangement  meant  that 
the  customer  could  not  offer  less  for  food  than 
the  government  had  decided  he  should  pay,  nor 
could  the  farmer  or  other  producer  demand  more. 

That  was  well  enough  in  a  way.  The  farmer 
was  to  get  for  a  kilogram  (2.205  pounds)  of 
wheat  not  less  than  four  and  one-half  cents,  and 
the  middleman  selling  to  the  mill  could  not  ask 

97 


THE    IRON    RATION 

more  than  five  and  one-half  cents.  Labor  and 
loss  in  milling  taken  into  consideration,  the  mill 
was  to  be  satisfied  with  seven  cents,  while  the 
consumer,  so  said  the  regulations,  was  to  get 
his  flour  for  eight  and  one-quarter  cents  per 
kilogram. 

That  was  all  very  well,  but  it  came  to  mean 
little  in  the  end. 

The  customer  thought  he  would  lay  in  two 
hundred  pounds  of  wheat  flour  for  the  rainy 
day.  The  retailer  could  not  see  it  in  that  way. 
That  was  just  a  little  too  much.  There  were 
other  worthy  customers  who  might  have  to  go 
short  of  their  regular  quota  if  he  sold  in  amounts 
of  that  size.  But  the  customer  wanted  the 
flour  and  was  willing  to  pay  more  than  the  regu- 
lation or  maximum  price  for  it.  It  took  but 
little  tempting  to  cause  the  fall  of  the  retailer. 

The  wholesaler  would  do  the  same  thing.  The 
commission-man  was  willing,  since  part  of,  let 
us  say,  a  20-per-cent.  increase  was  being  handed 
along  the  line.  The  mill  got  a  few  crowns  more 
per  hundred  kilograms,  and  a  little  of  the  extra 
price  would  get  as  far  as  the  farmer. 

That  I'appetit  vient  en  mangeant  is  a  notorious 
fact.  A  dangerous  practice  had  been  launched, 
nor  was  it  always  inaugurated  by  the  consumer. 
No  class  of  dealers  was  averse  to  doing  business 
that  might  be  illicit,  but  which  brought  large 
profits. 

A  first  result  was  that  the  farmer  was  spoiled, 
as  the  consumer  and  the  government  looked  at 
it.  While  purchases  from  the  farmer  were 

98 


THE    HOARDERS 

bounded  in  price  by  a  minimum,  there  was 
no  prohibition  of  paying  him  as  much  more  as 
he  would  take.  The  government's  duty  was  to 
stimulate  production,  and  that  was  the  purpose  of 
the  minimum  price. 

The  government,  learning  that  a  certain 
farmer  had  been  getting  six  cents  for  his  wheat, 
might  wonder  how  much  the  consumer  paid  and 
get  after  the  middlemen,  but  it  could  not  hold 
the  farmer  responsible. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  government  hardly 
ever  heard  of  such  transactions.  They  did  not 
talk  at  the  gate  of  the  food  "speak-easy." 
When  questioned  the  farmer  would  always  pro- 
test that  he  had  all  he  could  do  to  get  the  mini- 
mum price. 

Not  only  was  the  first  excess  in  price  passed 
along,  but  large  profits  attached  themselves  to 
the  article  as  it  progressed  cityward.  The  com- 
mission-men got  theirs,  the  miller  did  not  over- 
look himself,  the  wholesaler  was  remembered, 
naturally,  and  the  retailer,  as  factotum-general 
in  the  scheme,  saw  to  it  that  he  was  not  deprived 
of  his  share. 

As  is  always  the  case,  the  consumer  paid  the 
several  pipers.  And  the  special  consumer  to 
whom  the  food,  thus  illicitly  diverted  from  the 
regular  channels,  meant  the  assurance  that  he 
would  not  starve  although  others  might,  paid 
cheerfully.  What  was  the  good  of  having  money 
in  the  bank  when  soon  it  might  not  buy  anything? 

The  lines  in  front  of  the  food-shops  length- 
ened, and  many  retailers  acquired  the  habit  of 

99 


THE    IRON    RATION 

keeping  open  but  part  of  the  day.  But  even 
that  part  was  usually  too  long.  When  the  card 
in  the  window  said,  "Open  from  8  to  12,"  it 
usually  meant  that  at  nine  o'clock  there  would 
not  be  a  morsel  of  food  on  the  counters  and 
shelves.  The  members  of  the  food-line  who  had 
not  managed  to  gain  access  to  the  store  by  that 
time  would  get  no  food  that  day. 

At  first  the  retailer  would  regret  this  very 
much.  But  he  soon  began  to  feel  his  oats. 
Women,  who  had  stood  in  line  for  several  hours, 
wanted  to  know  why  he  had  so  small  a  quantity 
on  hand.  The  man  would  often  become  abusive 
and  refuse  an  explanation. 

Now  and  then  some  resolute  woman  would 
complain  to  the  police.  The  retailer  was  arrested 
and  fined.  But  the  woman  would  never  again 
get  any  food  from  him.  That  was  his  way  of 
getting  even  and  disciplining  the  good  customers 
upon  whom  at  other  times  he  had  waited  hand 
and  foot. 

The  fine  relations  between  customer  and  re- 
tailer of  yore  were  gone  by  the  board.  The  era 
of  hoarding  and  greed  was  on.  The  good- 
natured  Vienna  and  Berlin  Kleinkrdmer  grew 
more  autocratic  every  time  he  opened  his  store. 
People  had  to  come  to  him  or  go  hungry,  and  it 
was  ever  hurtful  to  put  the  beggar  on  horse- 
back. 

Occasional  visits  to  the  lower  courts  proved 
very  interesting  and  entertaining,  though  the 
story  that  was  told  was  always  the  same.  The 

retailer  had  lost  his  sense  of  proportions  com- 

100 


THE   HOARDERS 

pletely.  No  sergeant  of  an  awkward  squad 
ever  developed  so  fine  a  flow  of  sarcastic  billings- 
gate as  did  the  butchers,  bakers,  and  candlestick- 
makers  of  the  Central  states  in  those  days. 
Almost  every  case  had  its  low-comedy  feature, 
and  often  I  came  away  with  the  impression  that 
the  sense  of  humor  in  some  people  is  hard  to 
kill,  especially  when  some  serious  judge  pro- 
nounced the  maximum  sentence  for  an  offense 
about  whose  quaint  rascality  he  was  still  chuck- 
ling. 

But  the  dear  public  was  not  as  stupid  as  the 
retailers  and  their  ilk  thought.  Almost  every- 
body had  a  relative,  friend,  or  acquaintance  in 
the  country,  and  when  this  was  not  the  case 
one  had  a  city  friend  who  had  such  a  country 
connection. 

Sunday  excursions  into  the  country  became 
very  popular,  and  week-days  could  not  be  put 
to  better  use.  The  many  holidays  called  for 
by  religious  observance,  and  now  and  then  a 
victory  over  the  enemy,  came  to  be  a  severe 
strain  upon  the  country's  food  reserve.  The 
trains  coming  into  the  city  often  carried  more 
weight  in  food  than  in  passengers. 

After  all,  that  was  the  best  way  of  laying  in 
supplies.  Why  go  to  the  retailer  and  stand  in 
line  when  the  farmers  were  willing  to  sell  to  the 
consumer  direct? 

A  high  tide  in  hoarding  set  in.  Everybody 
filled  garret  and  cellar  with  the  things  which  the 
farm  produces.  Flour  was  stowed  away  in  all 
possible  and  impossible  places.  Potatoes  were 

8  101 


THE    IRON    RATION 

accumulated.  Butter  and  eggs  were  salted  away, 
and  so  much  fruit  was  preserved  that  sugar 
ceased  to  be  obtainable  in  countries  which  had 
formerly  exported  much  of  it. 

,The  authorities  knew  full  well  what  would 
happen  if  the  private  route  from  farm  to  kitchen 
direct  was  not  made  impossible.  Existing  regu- 
lations already  permitted  the  searching  of  trains. 
When  the  inspectors  descended  upon  the  hoard- 
ing holidayers  there  was  much  surprise,  gnashing 
of  teeth,  and  grumbling.  But  that  did  not  help. 
The  food  illicitly  brought  in  was  confiscated, 
and  the  slightest  resistance  on  the  part  of  those 
having  it  in  their  possession  brought  a  liberal 
fine  and  often  a  day  or  two  in  jail. 

The  parcel  post  was  used  next  by  the  private 
food-hoarders.  The  government  wanted  to  be 
easy  on  the  population  and  had  for  this  reason 
closed  its  eyes  to  the  packages  of  butter  and 
other  concentrated  foods  that  went  through  the 
mails.  But  the  good  consumers  overreached 
themselves.  The  result  was  that  the  postal 
authorities  turned  over  all  food  found  in  the 
mails  to  the  Food  Commissions  and  Centrals. 

Next  thing  was  that  the  farmer  who  came  to 
market  had  to  be  curbed.  That  worthy  man 
would  enter  town  or  city  with  a  good  load  of 
eatables.  By  the  time  he  had  gone  a  few  blocks 
he  had  disposed  of  everything.  It  was  like  tak- 
ing up  a  drop  of  ink  with  a  blotter. 

The  first  measures  against  this  resulted  in 
smuggling.  Every  load  of  produce  that  came 

into  a  population  center  had  in  it  packages  of 

102 


THE    HOARDERS 

other  good  things,  especially  butter  and  lard,  and 
later  eggs,  when  these  fell  within  the  scope  of 
regulation. 

But  the  hoarding  that  was  going  on  would 
have  to  be  stopped  if  the  food-supply  was  to 
last.  Those  who  hoarded  lost  no  chance  to 
buy  for  their  current  consumption  in  the  legal 
market,  drawing  thus  doubly  on  the  scant  food- 
supplies.  The  authorities  began  to  exercise  their 
right  of  search.  The  food-inspector  became  an 
unwelcome  visitor  of  households. 

The  practice  of  hoarding  was  well  enough  for 
the  well-to-do.  But  it  left  the  poor  entirely 
unprovided.  The  average  wage-earner  did  not 
have  the  means  to  buy  food  at  the  fancy  prices 
that  governed  the  illicit  food  market,  and  the 
food  that  went  to  the  hoarder  cut  short  the  gen- 
eral supply  upon  which  the  poor  depended  for 
their  daily  allowance.  It  was  quite  the  regular 
thing  for  the  wife  of  a  poor  man  to  stand  in  line 
three  hours  and  then  be  turned  away.  The  re- 
tailer would  still  have  food  in  the  cellar,  but  that 
was  to  go  out  by  private  delivery.  The  food 
cards  held  by  the  women  were  no  warrant  on  the 
quantities  they  prescribed,  but  merely  the  au- 
thorization to  draw  so  and  so  much  if  the  things 
were  to  be  had.  The  woman  had  to  take  the 
retailer's  word  for  it.  When  that  august  person 
said,  "Sold  out,"  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
go  home  and  pacify  the  hungry  children  with 
whatever  else  the  depleted  larder  contained. 

Meanwhile  much  food  was  spoiling  in  the  cel- 
lars and  attics  of  the  hoarders.  People  who 

103 


THE    IRON    RATION 

never  before  in  their  lives  had  attempted  to 
preserve  food  were  now  trying  their  hand  at  it — 
with  unfortunate  and  malodorous  results. 

An  acquaintance  of  mine  in  Vienna  had 
hoarded  diligently  and  amply.  The  man  had  on 
hand  wheat  flour,  large  quantities  of  potatoes, 
butter  in  salt,  and  eggs  in  lime-water,  and  con- 
served fruits  and  vegetables  which  represented  an 
excess  consumption  in  sugar.  He  had  also  laid 
in  great  quantities  of  honey,  coffee,  and  other 
groceries.  There  was  food  enough  to  last  his 
family  two  years,  so  long  as  a  little  could  be  had 
in  the  legal  market  each  day. 

Though  the  store  on  hand  was  ample,  the  man 
continued  to  buy  where  and  whenever  he  could. 
One  day  he  shipped  from  Agram  several  mat- 
tresses— -not  for  the  sake  of  the  comfort  they 
would  bring  of  nights,  but  for  the  macaroni  he 
had  stuffed  them  with.  I  think  that  of  all  the 
hoarders  he  was  the  king-pin. 

The  man  had  three  growing  boys,  however,  and 
allowance  has  to  be  made  for  that.  He  did  not 
want  those  boys  to  be  stunted  in  their  growth  by 
insufficient  nourishment.  Obliged  to  choose  be- 
tween paternal  and  civic  duty,  he  decided  in  favor 
of  the  former,  for  which  we  need  not  blame  him 
too  much,  seeing  that  most  of  us  would  do  pre- 
cisely that  thing  in  his  position.  But  to  under- 
stand that  fully,  one  must  have  seen  hungry 
children  tormenting  their  parents  for  food. 
Description  is  wholly  inadequate  in  such  cases. 

That  there  were  others  who  had  growing  chil- 
dren may  have  occurred  to  the  man,  but  meant 

104 


THE    HOARDERS 

nothing  to  him.  So  he  continued  to  buy  and 
hoard. 

The  storage  methods  employed  were  wrong, 
of  course,  and  facilities  were  very  limited.  The 
potatoes  froze  in  the  cellar  and  sprouted  in  the 
warm  rooms.  Weevils  took  birth  in  the  flour,  be- 
cause it  was  stored  in  a  wardrobe  only  some  four 
feet  away  from  a  stove.  The  canned  goods  stood 
on  every  shelf  in  the  place,  littered  the  floors  and 
filled  the  corners.  Faulty  preserving  methods 
or  the  constant  changes  of  temperature  caused 
most  of  them  to  ferment  and  spoil.  Every  now 
and  then  something  about  the  apartment  would 
explode.  The  man  had  bought  up  almost  the  last 
of  olive-oil  that  could  be  had  in  Central  Europe. 
That,  too,  turned  rancid. 

As  I  remember  it  now,  he  told  me  that  of  all 
the  food  he  had  bought — that  he  had  hoarded 
it  he  never  admitted — he  had  been  able  to  use 
about  one-third,  and  the  annoyance  he  had  from 
the  spoiled  two-thirds  killed  all  the  joy  there  was 
in  having  saved  one-third.  Hoarding  in  this  case 
was  an  utter  failure. 

So  it  was  in  most  cases.  To  preserve  food  is 
almost  a  science,  and  suitable  storage  facilities 
play  an  important  role  in  this.  The  private 
hoarder  had  no  proper  facilities.  That  it  was 
unlawful  to  hoard  food  caused  him  to  go  ahead 
storing  without  asking  advice  of  people  familiar 
with  the  requirements;  and  the  possibility  that 
agents  of  the  food  authorities  might  come  to 
inspect  the  quarters  of  the  hoarder  made  hiding 
imperative.  Often  the  servants  would  become 

105 


THE    IRON    RATION 

informers,  so  that  the  food  had  to  be  hidden 
from  them  in  barrels,  trunks,  and  locked  chests. 
The  result  of  this  can  be  easily  imagined.  There 
was  a  time  when  more  food  was  spoiled  in  Cen- 
tral Europe  by  hoarding  than  there  was  con- 
sumed. The  thing  was  extremely  short-sighted, 
but  everybody  was  taking  care  of  himself  and 
his  own. 

There  was  no  reason  why  food  should  spoil  on 
the  hands  of  the  retailer.  He  never  had  enough 
to  go  around.  But  it  was  different  with  the 
wholesaler.  This  class  was  eternally  holding 
back  supplies  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  the 
government  to  increase  the  maximum  prices. 
As  time  went  on,  the  authorities  had  to  do  that, 
and  the  quantities  then  held  in  the  warehouses 
benefited.  The  agitation  of  the  producers  for 
better  minimum  prices  was  water  on  the  mill  of 
the  wholesaler.  The  government  was  eternally 
solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  the  farmer,  and  lent 
a  ready  ear  to  what  he  had  to  say.  The  mini- 
mum price  was  raised,  and  with  it  the  consumer's 
maximum  price  had  to  go  up.  All  quantities 
then  held  by  the  wholesalers  were  affected  only 
by  the  increase  in  food  prices  that  was  borne  by 
the  consumer,  not  the  increase  that  had  to  be 
given  the  farmer.  It  was  the  finest  of  business, 
especially  since  an  increase  of  5  per  cent,  in  legit- 
imate business  meant  an  increase  of  another  15 
per  cent,  in  illicit  traffic. 

In  the  spring  of  1916  I  made  a  canvass  of  the 
situation,  and  found  that  while  the  farmers  were 
getting  for  their  products  from  10  to  15  per  cent. 

106 


THE    HOARDERS 

more  than  they  had  received  in  1914,  food  in  the 
cities  and  towns  was  from  80  to  150  per  cent, 
higher  than  it  had  been  normally  during  five 
years  before  the  war.  I  found  that  the  dealers 
and  middlemen  were  reaping  an  extra  profit  of 
approximately  80  per  cent,  on  the  things  they 
bought  and  sold,  after  the  greater  cost  of  opera- 
tion had  been  deducted.  Small  wonder  that 
jewelers  in  Berlin  and  Vienna  told  me  that  the 
Christmas  trade  of  1915  was  the  best  they  had 
ever  done.  These  good  people  opined  that  their 
increase  in  business  was  due  to  the  general  war 
prosperity.  They  were  right,  but  forgot  to  men- 
tion that  this  prosperity  was  based  on  the  cents 
wrung  from  the  starving  population  by  the 
buyers  of  the  diamonds  and  precious  baubles. 

Naturally,  the  dear  farmer  was  not  being  left 
just  then.  He  sold  when  he  pleased  for  a  time 
— until  the  government  took  a  hand  in  moving 
his  crops.  But  this  interference  with  the  affairs 
of  the  farmer  was  not  entirely  a  blessing  by  any 
means.  The  brave  tiller  of  the  soil  began  to 
hoard  now.  Little  actual  loss  came  from  this. 
The  farmer  knew  his  business.  No  food  spoiled 
so  long  as  he  took  care  of  it.  All  would  have 
been  well  had  it  not  been  that  the  farmer  was 
the  very  fountainhead  of  the  hoarding  which  in 
the  cities  resulted  in  the  loss  of  foodstuffs. 

There  were  still  many  loose  ends  in  the  scheme 
of  food  regulation.  While  the  farmer  was  obliged 
to  sell  to  the  middleman,  under  supervision  of 
the  government  Food  Centrals,  all  cereals  and  po- 
tatoes which  he  would  not  need  for  his  own  use 

107 


THE    IRON   RATION 

and  seeding,  the  estimates  made  by  the  Food 
Central  agents  were  generally  very  conservative. 
This  they  had  to  be  if  the  government  was  not 
to  run  the  risk  of  finding  itself  short  after  fixing 
the  ration  that  seemed  permissible  by  the  crop 
returns  established  in  this  manner.  The  farmer 
got  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  of  course,  and  that 
benefit  he  invariably  salted  away  for  illicit 
trading. 

But  illicit  trading  in  breadstuffs  was  becoming 
more  and  more  difficult.  The  grain  had  to  go 
into  a  mill  before  it  was  flour.  The  government 
began  to  check  up  closely  on  the  millers,  which 
was  rather  awkward  for  all  concerned  in  the 
traffic  of  the  food  "speak-easy." 

A  way  out  was  found  by  the  farmers.  They 
were  a  rather  inventive  lot.  I  am  sure  that 
these  men,  as  they  followed  the  plow  back  and 
forth,  cudgeled  their  brains  how  the  latest  gov- 
ernment regulation  could  be  met  and  frustrated. 

Butter  and  fat  were  very  short  and  were  almost 
worth  their  weight  in  silver.  They  sold  in  the 
regulated  market  at  from  one  dollar  and  sixty 
to  one  dollar  and  eighty  cents  a  pound,  and 
in  the  food  "speak-easy"  they  cost  just  double 
that. 

Why  not  produce  more  butter?  thought  the 
farmer.  He  had  the  cows.  Ajid  why  not  more 
lard?  He  had  the  pigs.  A  bushel  of  grain  sold 
at  minimum  price  brought  so  much,  while  con- 
verted into  butter  and  lard  it  was  worth  thrice 
that  much.  Grain  was  hard  to  sell  surreptitious- 
ly, but  it  was  easy  to  dispose  of  the  fats. 

108 


THE    HOARDERS 

In  this  manner  hoarding  took  on  a  new  shape 
— one  that  was  to  lead  to  more  waste. 

None  of  the  Central  European  governments 
had  reason  to  believe  that  its  food  measures  were 
popular.  Much  passive  resistance  was  met.  The 
consumer  thought  of  himself  in  a  hundred  dif- 
ferent ways.  To  curb  him,  the  secret  service  of 
the  police  was  instructed  to  keep  its  eyes  on  the 
family  larder.  Under  the  "War"  paragraphs  of 
the  constitutions  the  several  governments  of  Cen- 
tral Europe  had  that  power.  In  Austria  it  was 
the  famous  "§14,"  for  instance,  under  which  any 
and  all  war  measures  were  possible. 

Government  by  inspection  is  not  only  oppres- 
sive; it  is  also  very  expensive.  It  is  dangerous 
in  times  when  authorities  are  face  to  face  with 
unrest;  at  any  time  it  is  the  least  desirable 
thing  there  is.  It  was  not  long  before  both 
government  and  public  discovered  that.  To  in- 
spect households  systematically  was  impossible, 
of  course.  The  informer  had  to  be  relied  upon. 
Usually,  discharged  servants  wrote  anonymous 
letters  to  the  police,  and  often  it  was  found  that 
this  was  no  more  than  a  bit  of  spite  work.  If  a 
servant-girl  wanted  to  give  a  former  mistress  a 
disagreeable  surprise  she  would  write  such  a  let- 
ter. Some  hoards  were  really  uncovered  in  that 
manner,  but  the  game  was  not  worth  the 
candle. 

To  get  at  the  men  who  were  hoarding  en  masse 
for  speculation  and  price-boosting  purposes,  an 
efficient  secret  service  was  needed.  But  this  the 
Central  European  governments  do  not  possess. 

109 


THE    IRON    RATION 

The  police  of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary 
plays  an  important  part  in  the  life  of  man.  But 
it  does  this  openly.  The  methods  employed  are 
bureaucratic  routine.  The  helmet  shows  con- 
spicuously. Wits  have  no  place  in  the  system. 

One  cannot  move  from  one  house  to  another 
without  being  made  the  subject  of  an  entry  on 
the  police  records.  To  move  from  one  town  to 
another  was  quite  an  undertaking  during  the 
war.  Several  documents  were  required.  A  ser- 
vant or  employee  may  not  change  jobs  without 
notifying  the  police  authorities.  All  life  is  mi- 
nutely regulated  and  recorded  on  the  books  of 
the  minions  of  the  law. 

In  matters  of  that  sort  the  Central  European 
police  is  truly  efficient,  because  the  system  em- 
ployed has  been  perfected  by  the  cumulative  ef- 
fort and  experience  of  generations.  Detective 
work,  on  the  other  hand,  is  out  of  the  reach  of 
these  organizations.  The  German  detective  is 
as  poor  a  performer  and  as  awkward  as  certain 
German  diplomatists.  He  is  always  found  out. 

Why  the  German  and  Austro-Hungarian 
detective  services  did  not  succeed  in  finding  the 
commercial  hoards  I  can  readily  understand. 
One  could  recognize  the  members  of  the  services 
a  mile  off,  as  it  were.  It  seemed  to  me  that  they 
were  forever  afraid  of  being  detected.  In  the  de- 
tective that  is  a  bad  handicap.  Now  and  then 
the  German  detective  could  be  heard. 

As  a  foreigner  I  received  considerable  attention 
from  the  German,  Austrian,  and  Hungarian 

police  forces  in  the  course  of  three  years.     My 

no 


THE    HOARDERS 

case  was  simple,  however.  I  looked  outlandish, 
no  doubt,  and  since  I  spoke  German  with  a  for- 
eign accent  it  really  was  not  difficult  to  keep  track 
of  me.  In  the  course  of  time,  also,  I  became 
well  known  to  thousands  of  people.  That 
under  these  circumstances  I  should  have  known 
it  at  once  when  detectives  were  on  my  trail  can 
be  ascribed  only  to  the  clumsy  work  that  was 
being  done  by  the  secret-service  men.  In  Berlin 
I  once  invited  a  "shadow"  of  mine  to  get  into 
my  taxicab,  lest  I  escape  him.  He  refused  and 
seemed  offended. 

But  there  is  a  classic  bit  of  German  detective 
work  that  I  must  give  in  detail,  in  order  to  show 
why  the  food  speculator  and  his  ilk  were  immune 
in  spite  of  all  the  regulations  made  by  the  govern- 
ment. 

I  had  been  in  Berlin  several  times  when  it  hap- 
pened. I  knew  many  men  in  the  Foreign  Office, 
and  in  the  bureaus  of  the  German  general  staff, 
while  to  most  of  the  Adlon  Hotel  employees  I  was 
as  familiar  a  sight  as  I  well  could  be  without  be- 
longing to  their  families. 

I  had  come  over  the  German-Dutch  border 
that  noon,  and  had  been  subjected  to  the  usual 
frisking.  There  had  also  been  a  little  trouble — 
also  as  usual. 

The  clerk  at  the  desk  in  the  Adlon  did  not 
know  me.  He  was  a  new  man.  He  had,  how- 
ever, been  witness  to  the  very  effusive  welcome 
which  the  chef  de  reception  gave  me. 

That  did  not  interest  me  until  I  came  down 

from  my  room  and  approached  the  desk  for  the 

in 


THE    IRON   RATION 

purpose  of  leaving  word  for  a  friend  of  mine 
where  I  could  be  found  later. 

The  clerk  was  engaged  in  earnest  conversation 
with  a  stockily  built  man  of  middle  age.  I  had 
to  wait  until  he  would  be  through. 

After  a  second  or  so  I  heard  my  room  number 
mentioned — 237.  Then  the  sound  of  my  name 
fell.  I  noticed  that  the  clerk  was  fingering  one 
of  the  forms  on  which  a  traveler  in  Central 
Europe  inscribes  his  name,  profession,  resi- 
dence, nationality,  age,  and  what  not  for  the  in- 
formation of  the  police. 

"He  is  a  newspaper  correspondent?"  asked 
the  stocky  one. 

"So  he  says,"  replied  the  clerk. 

"You  are  sure  about  that?" 

"Well,  that  is  what  it  says  on  the  form." 

"What  sort  of  looking  fellow  is  he?"  inquired 
the  stockily  built  man. 

"Rather  tall,  smooth  shaven,  dark  complexion, 
wears  eye-glasses,"  replied  the  clerk. 

I  moved  around  the  column  that  marks  the 
end  of  one  part  of  the  desk  and  the  beginning  of 
another  part  that  runs  at  right  angles  to  the  first. 

The  clerk  saw  me  and  winked  at  the  man  to 
whom  he  had  been  talking.  The  detective 
was  in  the  throes  of  embarrassment.  He 
blushed. 

"Can't  I  be  of  some  assistance  to  you?"  I 
remarked  in  an  impersonal  manner,  looking  from 
clerk  to  detective.  "You  seem  to  be  interested 
in  my  identity.  What  do  you  wish  to  know?" 

There  was  a  short  but  highly  awkward  pause. 
112 


THE    HOARDERS 

"I  am  not,"  stammered  the  detective.  "We 
were  talking  about  somebody  else." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  I  and  moved  off. 

I  have  always  taken  it  for  granted  that  the  de- 
tective was  a  new  man  in  the  secret  service. 
Still,  I  have  often  wondered  what  sort  of  detec- 
tive service  it  must  be  that  will  employ  such 
helpless  bunglers. 

It  may  be  no  more  than  an  idee  fixe  on  my  part, 
but  ever  since  then  I  have  taken  cum  grano  salis 
all  that  has  been  said  for  and  against  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  German  secret  service,  be  it 
municipal  or  international.  At  Bucharest  there 
was  maintained  for  a  time,  allegedly  by  the  Ger- 
man foreign  service,  a  man  who  was  known  to 
everybody  on  the  Calea  Victoriei  as  the  German 
Oberspion — chief  spy.  The  poor  devil  cut  a  most 
pathetic  figure.  All  contentions  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding,  I  would  say  that  secret  service 
is  not  one  of  the  fortes  of  the  Germans.  They 
really  ought  to  leave  it  alone.  That  takes  keener 
wits  and  quicker  thinking  on  one's  feet  than  can 
be  associated  with  the  German  mind. 

The  Austrians  were  rather  more  efficient,  and 
the  same  can  be  said  of  the  Hungarian  detective 
forces.  In  both  cases  the  secret-service  men  were 
usually  Poles,  however,  and  that  makes  a  dif- 
ference. There  is  no  mind  quite  so  nimble, 
adaptive,  or  capable  of  simulation  as  that  of  the 
Pole.  In  this  the  race  resembles  strongly  the 
French,  hence  its  success  in  a  field  in  which  the 
French  are  justly  the  leaders. 

For  the  food  sharps  the  German  detective  was 

113 


THE    IRON    RATION 

no  match.  He  might  impress  a  provident  Haus- 
frau  and  move  her  to  tears  and  the  promise  that 
she  would  never  do  it  again.  The  commercial 
hoarder,  who  had  a  regular  business  besides  and 
kept  his  books  accordingly,  was  too  much  for 
these  men.  So  long  as  no  informer  gave  specific 
details  that  left  no  room  for  thinking  on  the 
part  of  the  detective,  the  food  shark  was  per- 
fectly safe.  The  thousands  of  cases  that  came 
into  the  courts  as  time  went  on  showed  that  the 
detectives,  and  inspectors  of  the  Food  Authori- 
ties, were  thoroughly  incorruptible.  They  also 
showed  that  they  at  least  were  doing  no  hoard- 
ing— in  brains. 


VII 

IN   THE   HUMAN   SHAMBLES 

OOMBER  as  this  picture  of  life  is,  its  back- 
^  ground  was  nothing  less  than  terrifyingly 
lurid. . 

For  some  minutes  I  had  stood  before  a  barn  in 
Galicia.  I  was  expected  to  go  into  that  barn, 
but  I  did  not  like  the  idea.  Some  fourscore  of 
cholera  patients  lay  on  the  straw-littered  earthen 
floor.  Every  hour  or  so  one  of  them  would  die. 
Disease  in  their  case  had  progressed  so  far  that 
all  hope  had  been  abandoned.  If  by  any  chance 
one  of  the  sick  possessed  that  unusual  degree  of 
bodily  and  nerve  vigor  that  would  defeat  the 
ravages  of  the  germ,  he  would  recover  as  well  in 
the  barn  as  in  a  hospital. 

The  brave  man  wishes  to  die  alone.  Those  in 
the  barn  were  brave  men,  and  I  did  not  wish  to 
press  my  company  upon  them  in  the  supreme 
hour.  Still,  there  was  the  possibility  that  some 
might  question  my  courage  if  I  did  not  go  into  the 
barn.  Cholera  is  highly  contagious.  But  when 
with  an  army  one  is  expected  to  do  as  the  army 
does.  If  reckless  exposure  be  a  part  of  that, 
there  is  no  help. 

115 


THE    IRON    RATION 

I  stepped  into  the  gloom  of  the  structure. 
There  was  snow  on  the  ground  outside.  It  took  a 
minute  or  two  before  my  eyes  could  discern 
things.  Some  light  fell  into  the  interior  from 
the  half-open  door  and  a  little  square  opening 
hi  the  wall  in  the  rear. 

Two  lines  of  sick  men  lay  on  the  ground — 
heads  toward  the  wall,  feet  in  the  aisle  that  was 
thus  formed.  Some  of  the  cholera-stricken 
writhed  in  agony  as  the  germ  destroyed  their 
vitals.  Others  lay  exhausted  from  a  spasm  of 
excruciating  agony.  Some  were  in  the  coma 
preceding  death.  Two  were  delirious. 

There  was  an  army  chaplain  in  the  barn.  He 
thought  it  his  duty  to  be  of  as  much  comfort  to 
the  men  as  possible.  His  intentions  were  kind 
enough,  and  yet  he  would  have  done  the  patients 
a  favor  by  leaving  them  to  themselves. 

As  I  reached  the  corner  where  the  chaplain 
stood,  one  of  the  sick  soldiers  struggled  into  an 
upright  position.  Then  he  knelt,  while  the 
chaplain  began  to  say  some  prayer.  The  poor 
wretch  had  much  difficulty  keeping  upright. 
When  the  chaplain  had  said  "Amen"  he  fell 
across  the  body  of  the  sick  man  next  to  him. 

The  exertion  and  the  mental  excitement  had 
done  the  man  no  good.  Soon  he  was  in  a  par- 
oxysm of  agony.  The  chaplain  was  meanwhile 
preparing  another  for  the  great  journey. 

The  dead  had  been  laid  under  one  of  the  eaves. 
A  warm  wind  had  sprung  up  and  the  sun  was 
shining.  The  snow  on  the  roof  began  to  melt. 
The  dripping  water  laved  the  faces  of  the  dead. 

116 


IN   THE   HUMAN   SHAMBLES 

Out  in  the  field  several  men  were  digging  a 
company  grave. 

So  much  has  been  written  on  the  hardships 
endured  by  the  wounded  at  the  front  that  I  will 
pass  by  this  painful  subject.  What  tortures 
these  unfortunates  suffered  is  aptly  epitomized  by 
an  experience  I  had  in  the  hospital  of  the  Amer- 
ican Red  Cross  in  Budapest. 

The  man  in  charge  of  the  hospital,  Dr.  Charles 
MacDonald,  of  the  United  States  Army,  had 
invited  me  to  see  his  institution.  I  had  come  to 
a  small  room  in  which  operations  were  under- 
taken when  urgency  made  this  necessary.  Dur- 
ing the  day  a  large  convoy  of  very  bad  cases  had 
reached  Budapest.  Many  of  them  were  a  com- 
bination of  wounds  and  frostbite. 

In  the  middle  of  the  room  stood  an  operation- 
table.  On  it  lay  a  patient  who  was  just  recover- 
ing consciousness.  I  saw  the  merciful  stupor 
of  anesthesia  leave  the  man's  mind  and  wondered 
how  he  would  take  it.  For  on  the  floor,  near 
the  foot  end  of  the  operation-table,  stood  an 
enameled  wash-basin,  filled  with  blood  and 
water.  From  the  red  fluid  protruded  two  feet. 
They  were  black  and  swollen — frostbite.  One 
of  them  had  been  cut  off  a  little  above  the  ankle, 
and  the  other  immediately  below  the  calf  of  the 
leg. 

The  amputation  itself  was  a  success,  said  the 
nurse.  But  there  was  little  hope  for  the  patient. 
He  had  another  wound  in  the  back.  That 
wound  itself  was  not  serious,  but  it  had  been  the 

cause  of  the  man's  condition,  by  depriving  him 
9  117 


THE    IRON    RATION 

temporarily  of  the  power  of  locomotion.  When 
he  was  shot,  the  man  had  fallen  into  some  reeds. 
He  was  unconscious  for  a  time,  and  when  he  re- 
covered his  senses  he  found  that  he  could  no 
longer  move  his  legs. 

He  was  lying  in  a  No  Man's  Land  between 
the  Austro-Hungarian  and  Russian  lines.  For 
two  days  his  feeble  cries  were  unheard.  Fin- 
ally, some  ambulance- men  came  across  him.  By 
that  time  his  feet  had  been  frozen.  The  wound 
in  his  back  was  given  some  attention  at  a  first- 
aid  station  behind  the  line.  The  surgeons  de- 
cided that  the  amputation  of  the  feet  could  wait 
until  Budapest  was  reached.  Meanwhile  the 
poison  of  gangrene  was  gaining  admission  to 
the  blood. 

The  man's  face  was  yellow.  His  whole  body 
was  yellow  and  emaciated.  The  lips  no  longer 
served  to  cover  the  teeth. 

He  was  breathing  pantingly — hi  short,  quick 
gasps. 

Slowly  his  mind  shook  off  the  fetters  of  the 
ether.  A  long  breath — a  faint  sigh.  The  eyes 
opened. 

They  were  Slav  eyes  of  blue-gray.  I  saw  in 
them  the  appeal  of  the  helpless  child,  the  protest 
of  a  being  tortured,  the  prayer  for  relief  of  a 
despairing  soul. 

The  man's  lips  moved.  He  wanted  to  say 
something.  I  bent  over  to  catch  the  sibilant 
tones. 

I  had  not  caught  them,  and  indicated  that  by 
a  shake  of  the  head.  The  man  repeated.  He 

118 


IN   THE    HUMAN    SHAMBLES 

spoke  in  Polish,  a  language  I  do  not  know.  To 
assure  the  man  that  I  would  find  means  of  under- 
standing him,  I  patted  his  cheek,  and  then  called 
an  orderly. 

"He  says  that  he  would  like  you  to  fetch  his 
wife  and  his  children,"  said  the  orderly-inter- 
preter, as  he  righted  himself.  "He  says  he  is 
going  to  die  soon,  and  wants  to  see  them.  He 
says  that  you  will  have  to  hurry  up.  He  says 
that  he  will  say  a  good  word  to  the  Lord  for  you 
if  you  will  do  him  this  favor." 

"Ask  him  where  they  live,"  I  said  to  the 
orderly.  If  it  were  at  all  possible  I  would  do  the 
man  this  kindness. 

It  was  some  village  near  Cracow.  That  was  a 
long  way  off.  If  the  man  lived  for  two  days  his 
wish  could  be  met. 

"Tell  the  man  that  I  will  telegraph  his  wife  to 
come  as  quickly  as  possible,  but  that  she  can't  be 
here  for  a  day  or  so,"  I  instructed  the  interpreter. 

A  shadow  of  disappointment  swept  over  the 
patient's  face. 

"Ask  him  if  he  knows  where  he  is,"  I  said. 

The  man  did  not  know.  I  told  the  orderly 
to  make  it  clear  to  him  that  he  was  in  Budapest, 
and  that  his  home  in  Galicia  was  far  away.  He 
was  to  be  patient.  I  would  bring  his  wife  and 
children  to  him,  if  it  could  be  done  at  all.  Did 
the  wife  have  the  money  to  pay  the  railroad  fare? 

The  patient  was  not  sure.  I  read  in  his  eyes 
that  he  feared  the  woman  would  not  have  the 
money.  I  eased  his  mind  by  telling  him  that  I 
would  pay  the  fares. 

119 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Deeper  gratitude  never  spoke  from  any  face. 
The  poor  fellow  tried  to  lift  his  hands,  but  could 
not.  To  assure  him  that  his  wish  would  be 
granted  I  once  more  patted  his  cheeks  and  fore- 
head and  then  left  the  room,  followed  by  the 
orderly  and  the  wash-basin. 

"There  is  no  use  telegraphing,"  said  Doctor 
MacDonald.  "He  won't  live  longer  than  another 
hour,  at  the  most." 

Ten  minutes  later  the  man  was  dead.  The 
operation-table  was  being  wheeled  down  the  cor- 
ridor by  the  orderly.  I  had  just  stepped  out  of 
a  ward. 

The  orderly  stopped. 

"You  won't  have  to  bring  the  woman  here," 
he  said,  as  he  lifted  the  end  of  the  sheet  that 
covered  the  face. 

As  reward  for  my  readiness  to  help  the  poor 
man,  I  have  still  in  my  mind  the  expression  of  re- 
lief that  lay  on  the  dead  face.  He  had  passed 
off  in  gladsome  anticipation  of  the  meeting  there 
was  to  be. 

I  covered  up  the  face  and  the  orderly  trundled 
the  body  away. 

Some  months  later  I  sat  in  a  room  of  the  big 
military  hospital  in  the  Tatavla  Quarter  of  Con- 
stantinople. On  a  bench  against  the  wall  oppo- 
site me  were  sitting  a  number  of  men  in  Turkish 
uniform.  They  were  blind.  Some  of  them  had 
lost  their  eyes  in  hand-to-hand  combat,  more  of 
them  had  been  robbed  of  their  sight  in  hand- 
grenade  encounters. 

Doctor  Eissen,  the  oculist-surgeon  of  the  hos- 

120 


IN    THE   HUMAN    SHAMBLES 

pital,  was  about  to  fit  these  men  with  glass  eyes. 
In  the  neat  little  case  on  the  table  were  eyes  of  all 
colors,  most  of  them  brownish  tints,  a  few  of  them 
were  blue. 

One  of  the  Turks  was  a  blond — son  of  a  Greek 
or  Circassian,  maybe. 

"These  things  don't  help  any,  of  course,"  said 
Doctor  Eissen,  as  he  laid  a  pair  of  blue  eyes  on  a 
spoon  and  held  them  into  the  boiling  water  for 
sterilization.  "But  they  lessen  the  shock  to  the 
family  when  the  man  conies  home. 

"Poor  devils!  I  have  treated  them  all.  They 
are  like  a  bunch  of  children.  They  are  going 
home  to-day.  They  have  been  discharged. 

"Well,  they  are  going  home.  Some  have 
wives  and  children  they  will  never  see  again — 
dependents  they  can  no  longer  support.  Some 
of  them  are  luckier.  They  have  nobody.  The 
one  who  is  to  get  these  blue  eyes  used  to  be  a  silk- 
weaver  in  Brussa.  He  is  optimistic  enough  to 
think  that  he  can  still  weave.  Maybe  he  can. 
That  will  depend  on  his  fingers,  I  suppose.  It 
takes  often  more  courage  to  live  after  a  battle 
than  to  live  in  it." 

The  dear  government  did  not  provide  glass 
eyes.  Doctor  Eissen  furnished  them  himself, 
and  yet  the  dear  government  insisted  that  a  re- 
port be  made  on  each  eye  he  donated.  The  ways 
of  red  tape  are  queer  the  world  over. 

"And  when  the  blind  come  home  the  relatives 
weep  a  little  and  are  glad  that  at  least  so  much 
of  the  man  has  been  returned  to  them." 

In  the  corridor  there  was  waiting  a  Turkish 
121 


THE    IRON   RATION 

woman.  Her  son  was  one  of  those  whom  Doctor 
Eissen  was  just  fitting  with  eyes.  When  he  was 
through  with  this,  he  called  in  the  woman.  The 
young  blind  asker  rose  in  the  darkness  that  sur- 
rounded him. 

Out  of  that  darkness  came  presently  the  em- 
brace of  two  arms  and  the  sob: 

"Kusum!"  ("My  lamb!"). 

For  a  moment  the  woman  stared  into  the 
fabricated  eyes.  They  were  not  those  she  had 
given  her  boy.  They  were  glass,  immobile.  She 
closed  her  own  eyes  and  then  wept  on  the  broad 
chest  of  the  son.  The  son,  glad  that  his  walideh 
was  near  him  once  more,  found  it  easy  to  be  the 
stronger  of  the  two.  He  kissed  his  mother  and 
then  caressed  the  hair  under  the  cap  of  the 
yashmak. 

When  the  doctor  had  been  thanked,  the  mother 
led  her  boy  off. 

Blind  beggars  are  not  unkindly  treated  in 
Constantinople.  There  is  a  rule  that  one  must 
never  refuse  them  alms.  The  least  that  may  be 
given  them  are  the  words: 

"Inayet  ola!"  ("God  will  care  for  you!"). 

Not  long  after  that  I  sat  on  the  shambles  at 
Suvla  Bay,  the  particular  spot  in  question  being 
known  as  the  Kiretch  T^pe— Chalk  Hill. 

Sir  Ian  Hamilton  had  just  thrown  into  the  vast 
amphitheater  to  the  east  of  the  bay  some  two 
hundred  thousand  men,  many  of  them  raw 
troops  of  the  Kitchener  armies. 

Some  three  thousand  of  these  men  had  been 

left  dead  on  the  slopes  of  the  hill.     As  usual, 

122 


IN    THE    HUMAN    SHAMBLES 

somebody  on  Gallipoli  had  bungled  and  bungled 
badly.  A  few  days  before  I  had  seen  how  a 
British  division  ate  itself  up  in  futile  attacks 
against  a  Turkish  position  west  of  Kutchuk 
Anafarta.  The  thing  was  glorious  to  look  at, 
but  withal  very  foolish.  Four  times  the  British 
assailed  the  trenches  of  the  Turks,  and  each  time 
they  were  thrown  back.  When  General  Stop- 
ford  finally  decided  that  the  thing  was  foolish,  he 
called  it  off.  The  division  he  could  not  call  back, 
because  it  was  no  more. 

It  was  so  on  Chalk  Hill. 

A  hot  August  night  lay  over  the  peninsula. 
The  crescent  of  a  waning  moon  gave  the  dense 
vapors  that  had  welled  in  from  the  Mediterranean 
an  opalescent  quality.  From  that  vapor  came 
also,  so  it  seemed,  the  stench  of  a  hundred  battle- 
fields. In  reality  this  was  not  so.  The  Turkish 
advance  position,  which  I  had  invaded  that 
night  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  an  attack  which 
was  to  be  made  by  the  Turks  shortly  before 
dawn,  ran  close  to  the  company  graves  in  which 
the  Turks  had  buried  the  dead  foe. 

There  is  little  soil  on  Gallipoli.  It  is  hardly 
ever  more  than  a  foot  deep  on  any  slope,  and 
under  it  lies  lime  that  is  too  hard  to  get  out  of  the 
way  with  pick  and  shovel.  The  company  graves, 
therefore,  were  cairns  rather  than  ditches.  The 
bodies  had  been  walled  in  well  enough,  but  those 
walls  were  not  airtight.  The  gases  of  decomposi- 
tion escaped,  therefore,  and  filled  the  landscape 
with  obnoxious  odor. 

J  had  been  warned  against  this.     The  warning 

123 


THE    IRON    RATION 

I  had  disregarded  for  the  reason  that  such  things 
are  not  unfamiliar  to  me.  But  I  will  confess  that 
it  took  a  good  many  cigarettes  and  considerable 
will-power  to  keep  me  in  that  position — so  long 
as  was  absolutely  necessary. 

When  I  returned  to  Constantinople  everybody 
was  speaking  of  the  stench  in  the  Suvla  Bay 
terrain.  There  were  many  such  spots,  and  re- 
turning soldiers  were  never  slow  in  dwelling  on 
the  topic  they  suggested.  The  war  did  not  ap- 
pear less  awesome  for  that. 

But  the  shambles  that  came  closest  to  the 
general  public  was  the  casualty  lists  published  by 
the  German  government  as  a  sort  of  supplement 
to  the  Berlin  Norddeutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung, 
the  semi-official  organ  of  the  German  Imperial 
Government.  At  times  this  list  would  contain 
as  many  as  eight  thousand  names,  each  with  a 
letter  or  several  after  it — "t"  for  dead,  "s  v"  for 
severely  wounded,  "1  v"  for  lightly  wounded, 
and  so  on. 

It  was  thought  at  first  that  the  public  would 
not  be  able  to  stand  this  for  long.  But  soon  it 
was  shown  that  literally  there  was  no  end  to  the 
fortitude  of  the  Germans. 

I  was  to  spend  some  time  on  the  Somme  front. 
I  really  was  not  anxious  to  see  that  field  of 
slaughter.  But  certain  men  in  Berlin  thought  that 
I  ought  to  complete  my  list  of  fronts  with  their 
"own"  front.  Hospitals  and  such  no  longer  in- 
terested me.  Wrecked  churches  I  had  seen  by 
the  score — and  a  ruined  building  is  a  ruined  build- 
ing. I  said  that  I  would  visit  the  Somme  front 

124 


IN    THE    HUMAN    SHAMBLES 

in  case  I  was  allowed  to  go  wherever  I  wanted. 
That  was  agreed  to,  after  I  had  signed  a  paper 
relieving  the  German  government  of  all  respon- 
sibility in  case  something  should  happen  to  me 
"for  myself  and  my  heirs  forever." 

The  front  had  been  in  eruption  three  weeks  and 
murder  had  reached  the  climax  when  one  fine 
afternoon  I  put  up  at  a  very  unpretentious 
auberge  in  Cambrai. 

The  interior  of  the  Moloch  of  Carthage  never 
was  so  hot  as  this  front,  nor  was  Moloch  ever 
so  greedy  for  human  life.  Battalion  after  bat- 
talion, division  after  division,  was  hurled  into 
this  furnace  of  barrage  and  machine-gun  fire. 
What  was  left  of  them  trickled  back  in  a  thin 
stream  of  wounded. 

For  nine  days  the  "drum"  fire  never  ceased. 
From  Le  Transloy  to  south  of  Pozieres  the  earth 
rocked.  From  the  walls  and  ceilings  of  the  old 
citadel  at  Cambrai  the  plaster  fell,  though  many 
miles  lay  between  it  and  the  front. 

Perhaps  the  best  I  could  say  of  the  Somme 
offensive  is  that  none  will  ever  describe  it  ade- 
quately— as  it  was.  The  poor  devils  really  able 
to  encompass  its  magnitude  and  terrors  became 
insane.  Those  who  later  regained  their  reason 
did  so  only  because  they  had  forgotten.  The 
others  live  in  the  Somme  days  yet,  and  there  are 
thousands  of  them. 

I  could  tell  tales  of  horror  such  as  have  never 
before  been  heard — of  a  British  cavalry  charge 
near  Hebuterne  that  was  "stifled"  by  the  barbed 
wire  before  it  and  the  German  machine-guns  in 

125 


THE    IRON    RATION 

its  rear  and  flanks;  of  wounded  men  that  had 
crawled  on  all-fours  for  long  distances,  resting 
occasionally  to  push  back  their  entrails;  of  men 
cut  into  little  pieces  by  shells  and  perforated  like 
sieves  by  the  machine-guns;  and  again  of  steel- 
nerved  Bavarians  who,  coming  out  of  the  first 
trenches,  gathered  for  a  beer-drinking  in  an 
apple  orchard  not  far  from  Manancourt. 

But  that  seems  de  trop.  I  will  leave  that  to 
some  modern  Verestchagin  and  his  canvases. 

There  is  a  "still-life"  of  death  that  comes  to 
my  mind. 

Not  long  after  that  I  was  in  the  Carpathians. 
General  Brussilow  was  trying  out  his  mass 
tactics. 

The  slaughter  of  man  reached  there  aspects 
and  proportions  never  before  heard  of.  It  was 
not  the  machine  murder  of  the  West  Front — that 
is  to  say,  it  was  not  so  much  a  factory  for  the 
conversion  of  live  men  into  dead  as  it  was  a 
crude,  old-fashioned  abattoir. 

On  the  slope  of  a  massive  mountain  lies  an  old 
pine  forest.  In  the  clearings  stand  birches, 
whose  white  trunks  pierce  the  gloom  under  the 
roof  of  dense,  dark-green  pine  crowns.  Where  the 
clearings  are,  patches  of  late-summer  sky  may  be 
seen.  Through  the  pale  blue  travel  leisurely 
the  whitest  of  clouds,  and  into  this  background 
of  soft  blue  and  white  juts  the  somber  pine  and 
the  autumn-tinged  foliage  of  the  birch. 

The  forest  is  more  a  temple  of  a  thousand 
columns  than  a  thing  that  has  risen  from  the 
little  seeds  in  the  pine  cones.  The  trunks  are 

126 


IN    THE    HUMAN   SHAMBLES 

straight  and  seem  more  details  of  a  monument 
than  something  which  has  just  grown.  There  is 
a  formal  decorum  about  the  trees  and  their  ag- 
gregate. But  the  soft  light  under  the  crowns 
lessens  that  into  something  severely  mournful. 

The  forest  is  indeed  a  sepulcher.  On  its  floor 
lie  thousands  of  dead  Russians — first  as  close 
together  as  they  can  be  packed,  and  then  in 
layers  on  top  of  one  another.  It  would  seem  that 
these  bodies  had  been  brought  here  for  burial. 
That  is  not  the  case,  however.  The  wounds  in 
the  tree  trunks,  cut  by  the  streams  of  machine- 
gun  bullets  from  the  red  trenches  at  the  edge  of 
the  forest,  indicate  what  happened.  The  first 
wave  of  Russians  entered  the  forest,  was  deci- 
mated, and  retreated.  The  second  one  met  a 
similar  fate.  The  third  fared  no  better.  The 
fourth  came.  The  fifth.  The  sixth — twice  more 
the  Russian  artillery  urged  on  the  Russian 
infantry. 

Here  they  lie.  Their  bodies  are  distended  by  pro- 
gressing dissolution.  Narrow  slits  in  the  bloated 
faces  show  where  once  the  merry  and  dreamy  Slav 
eye  laughed.  Most  mouths  are  open,  still  eager 
for  another  breath  of  air.  Distended  nostrils  tell 
the  same  tale.  From  one  mouth  hangs  a  tongue 
almost  bitten  off.  A  face  close  by  is  but  a  mask 
— a  shell  splinter  has  cut  off  the  back  of  the  head, 
which  now  rests  on  the  shoulder  of  the  man. 

To-morrow  will  come  the  Austro-Hungarian 
burial  parties,  dig  holes  and  bury  these  human 
relics.  Meanwhile  the  pines  sough  sorrowfully, 
or  maybe  they  soughed  like  this  before. 

127 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Still  a  little  later  I  was  standing  at  an  ancient 
stone  bridge  in  the  Voros  Torony  defile  in  the 
Transylvanian  Alps.  It  was  a  late  afternoon  in 
the  late  fall.  In  the  defile  it  was  still,  save  for 
an  occasional  artillery  detonation  near  the 
Roumanian  border,  where  the  fight  was  going  on. 

The  red  of  the  beeches  and  oaks  fitted  well 
into  the  narrative  I  heard,  and  the  song  of  the  Alt 
River  reminded  that  it,  too,  had  played  a  part  in 
the  drama — the  complete  rout  of  the  Second 
Roumanian  army,  a  few  days  before.  The  breeze 
sweeping  through  the  defile  and  along  its  wooded 
flanks  brought  with  it  the  odor  of  the  dead. 
•The  underbrush  on  each  side  of  the  road  was  still 
full  of  dead  Roumanians.  The  gutter  of  the  road 
was  strewn  with  dead  horses.  Scores  of  them 
hung  in  the  tree  forks  below  the  road.  On  a 
rock-ledge  in  the  river  dead  men  moved  about 
under  the  impulse  of  the  current. 

The  narrative: 

"Do  you  see  that  little  clearing  up  there?" 

"The  one  below  the  pines?" 

"No.  The  one  to  the  left  of  that — right  above 
the  rocks." 

"Yes." 

"I  was  stationed  there  with  my  machine- 
guns,"  continued  the  Bavarian  officer.  "We 
had  crept  through  the  mountains  almost  on  our 
bellies  to  get  there.  It  was  hard  work.  But  we 
did  it. 

"At  that  we  came  a  day  too  soon.  We  were 
entirely  out  of  reach  of  Hermannstadt,  and 
didn't  know  what  was  going  on.  For  all  we 

128 


IN    THE    HUMAN    SHAMBLES 

knew  the  Roumanians  might  have  turned  a 
trick.  They  are  not  half -bad  soldiers.  We 
were  surprised,  to  say  the  least,  when,  on  arriving 
here,  we  found  that  the  road  was  full  of  traffic 
that  showed  no  excitement. 

"We  heard  cannonading  at  the  head  of  the 
gorge,  but  had  no  means  of  learning  what  it  was. 
We  had  been  sent  here  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of 
the  Roumanians,  while  the  Ninth  Army  was  to 
drive  them  into  the  defile. 

"For  twenty -four  hours  we  waited,  taking  care 
that  the  Roumanians  did  not  see  us.  It  was  very 
careless  of  them,  not  to  patrol  these  forests  in 
sufficient  force,  nor  to  scent  that  there  was  some- 
thing wrong  when  their  small  patrols  did  not  re- 
turn. At  any  rate,  they  had  no  notion  of  what 
was  in  store  for  them. 

"At  last  the  thing  started.  The  German  ar- 
tillery came  nearer.  We  could  tell  that  by  the 
fire.  At  noon  the  Roumanians  began  to  crowd 
into  the  defile.  A  little  later  they  were  here. 

"We  opened  up  on  them  with  the  machine- 
guns  for  all  we  were  worth.  The  men  had  been 
told  to  sweep  this  bridge.  Not  a  Roumanian 
was  to  get  over  that.  We  wanted  to  catch  the 
whole  lot  of  them. 

"But  the  Roumanians  couldn't  see  it  that 
way,  it  seems.  On  they  came  in  a  mad  rush  for 
safety.  The  artillery  was  shelling  the  road  be- 
hind them,  and  we  were  holding  the  bridge  almost 
airtight.  Soon  the  bridge  was  full  of  dead  and 
wounded.  Others  came  and  attempted  to  get 
over  them.  They  fell.  Still  others  pressed  on, 

129 


THE    IRON    RATION 

driven  ahead  by  the  maddened  crowd  in  the 
rear. 

"The  machine-guns  continued  to  work.  Very 
soon  this  bridge  was  full  of  dead  and  wounded  as 
high  as  the  parapet.  And  still  those  fools  would 
not  surrender.  Nor  did  they  have  sense  enough 
to  charge  us.  There  were  heaps  of  dead  in  front 
of  the  bridge,  as  far  as  the  house  over  there. 

"That  should  have  been  a  lesson  to  them. 
But  it  wasn't.  On  they  came.  Some  of  them 
trampled  over  the  dead  and  wounded.  Those 
more  considerate  tried  to  walk  on  the  parapet. 
The  machine-guns  took  care  that  they  did  not 
get  very  far. 

"By  that  time  those  shot  on  top  of  the  heap 
began  to  slide  into  the  river.  Those  not  under 
fire  scrambled  down  to  the  river  and  swam  it — 
those  who  could  swim;  the  others  are  in  it  yet. 
You  can  see  them  down  there  and  wherever 
there  is  sand-bank  or  rock-ledge.  But  those  who 
swam  were  the  only  ones  that  escaped  us.  That 
crowd  was  so  panicky  that  it  didn't  have  sense 
enough  even  to  surrender.  That's  my  theory. 

"It  was  an  awful  sight.  Do  you  think  this 
war  will  end  soon?" 

In  private  life  the  narrator  is  a  school-teacher 
in  a  little  village  in  the  Bavarian  highlands. 


VIII 

PATRIOTISM   AND   A   CRAVING   STOMACH 

NAPOLEON  had  a  poor  opinion  of  the  hun- 
gry soldier.  But  it  is  not  only  the  man-at- 
arms  who  travels  on  his  belly — the  nation  at  war 
does  the  same. 

I  have  found  that  patriotism  at  a  groaning 
table  in  a  warm  room,  and  with  some  other 
pleasant  prospects  added,  is  indeed  a  fine  thing. 
The  amateur  strategist  and  politician  is  never  in 
finer  mettle  than  when  his  belt  presses  more  or 
less  upon  a  grateful  stomach  and  when  the  mind 
has  been  exhilarated  by  a  good  bottle  of  wine  and 
is  then  being  tickled  by  a  respectable  Havana. 

But  I  have  also  sat  of  nights — rainy  nights 
at  that — in  the  trenches  and  listened  to  what  the 
men  at  the  front  had  to  say.  They,  too,  were 
reasonably  optimistic  when  the  stomach  was  at 
peace.  Of  course,  these  men  had  their  cares. 
Most  of  them  were  married  and  had  in  the  past 
supported  their  families  with  the  proceeds  of  their 
labor.  Now  the  governments  were  feeding  these 
families — after  a  fashion.  What  that  fashion 
was  the  men  came  to  hear  in  letters  from  home. 
It  made  them  dissatisfied  and  often  angry. 

131 


THE    IRON    RATION 

I  sat  one  night  in  the  bombproof  of  an  ad- 
vanced position  on  the  Sveta  Maria,  near  Tol- 
mein.  My  host  was  an  Austrian  captain  whose 
ancestry  had  come  from  Scotland.  A  certain 
Banfield  had  thought  it  well  to  enter  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  naval  service  many  years  ago,  and  the 
captain  was  one  of  his  descendants. 

Captain  Banfield  was  as  "sore"  as  the  pro- 
verbial wet  hen.  He  hadn't  been  home  in  some 
fourteen  months,  and  at  home  things  were  not 
well.  His  wife  was  having  a  hard  time  of  it  try- 
ing to  keep  the  kiddies  alive,  while  the  good 
Scotchman  was  keeping  vigil  on  the  Isonzo. 

That  Scotchman,  by  the  way,  had  a  reputation 
in  the  Austrian  army  for  being  a  terrible  Drauf- 
ganger,  which  means  that  when  occasion  came 
he  was  rather  hard  on  the  Italians.  He  would 
have  been  just  as  ruthless  with  the  profiteers  had 
he  been  able  to  get  at  them.  Most  uncompli- 
mentary things  were  said  by  him  of  the  food 
sharks  and  the  government  which  did  not  lay 
them  low. 

But  what  Captain  Banfield  had  to  complain  of 
I  had  heard  a  thousand  times.  His  was  not  the 
only  officer's  wife  who  had  to  do  the  best  she 
could  to  get  along.  Nor  was  that  class  worse  off 
than  any  other.  After  all,  the  governments  did 
their  best  by  it.  The  real  hardships  fell  upon 
the  dependents  of  the  common  soldier. 

I  had  made  in  Berlin  the  acquaintance  of  a 
woman  who  before  the  war  had  been  in  very  com- 
fortable circumstances.  Though  a  mechanical 
engineer  of  standing,  her  husband  had  not  been 

132 


PATRIOTISM   AND   A    CRAVING   STOMACH 

able  to  qualify  for  service  as  an  officer.  He  was 
in  charge  of  some  motor  trucks  in  an  army  supply 
column  as  a  non-commissioned  officer.  The  little 
allowance  made  by  the  government  for  the  wife 
and  her  four  children  did  not  go  very  far. 

But  the  woman  was  a  good  manager.  She 
moved  from  the  expensive  flat  they  had  lived  in 
before  the  mobilization.  The  quarters  she  found 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Stettiner  railroad  station 
were  not  highly  desirable.  But  her  genius  made 
them  so. 

The  income  question  was  more  difficult  to 
solve.  A  less  resourceful  woman  would  have 
never  solved  it.  But  this  one  did.  She  found 
work  in  a  laundry,  checking  up  the  incoming  and 
outgoing  bundles.  Somebody  had  to  suffer,  how- 
ever. In  this  case  the  children.  They  were 
small  and  had  to  be  left  to  themselves  a  great 
deal. 

I  discussed  the  case  with  the  woman. 

"My  children  may  get  some  bad  manners 
from  the  neighbors  with  whom  I  have  to  leave 
them,"  she  said.  "But  those  I  can  correct  later 
on.  Right  now  I  must  try  to  get  them  sufficient 
and  good  food,  so  that  their  bodies  will  not 
suffer." 

In  that  kind  of  a  woman  patriotism  is  hard  to 
kill,  as  I  had  ample  opportunity  to  observe. 

At  Constantinople  I  had  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  Baroness  Wangenheim,  widow  of  the 
late  Baron  Wangenheim,  then  ambassador  at  the 
Sublime  Porte.  Hearing  that  I  was  in  Berlin, 
the  baroness  invited  me  to  have  tea  with  her. 

10  133 


THE   IRON    RATION 

Tea  is  a  highly  socialized  function,  anyway,  but 
this  one  was  to  be  the  limit  in  that  respect. 
The  repast — I  will  call  it  that — was  taken  in  one 
of  the  best  appointed  salons  I  ever  laid  eyes  on. 
Taste  and  wealth  were  blended  into  a  splendid 
whole. 

The  maid  came  in  and  placed  upon  the  fine 
marquetry  taboret  a  heavy  old  silver  tray.  On 
the  tray  stood,  in  glorious  array,  as  fine  a  porce- 
lain tea  service  as  one  would  care  to  own. 

But  we  had  neither  milk  nor  lemon  for  the  tea. 
We  sweetened  it  with  saccharine.  There  was  no 
butter  for  the  war-bread,  so  we  ate  it  with  a  little 
prune  jam.  At  the  bottom  of  a  cut-glass  jar 
reposed  a  few  crackers.  I  surmised  that  they 
were  ancient,  and  feared,  moreover,  that  the  one 
I  might  be  persuaded  to  take  could  not  so  easily 
be  replaced.  So  I  declined  the  biscuit,  and,  to 
make  the  baroness  understand,  offered  her  one 
of  my  bread  coupons  for  the  slice  of  bread  I  had 
eaten.  This  she  declined,  saying  that  the  day 
was  yet  long  and  that  I  might  need  the  bread 
voucher  before  it  was  over. 

"I  am  no  better  off  than  others  here,"  the 
baroness  explained  to  me  in  reply  to  a  question. 
"I  receive  from  the  authorities  the  same  number 
of  food  cards  everybody  gets,  and  my  servants 
must  stand  in  line  like  all  others.  The  only 
things  I  can  buy  now  in  the  open  market  are 
fish  and  vegetables.  But  that  is  as  it  should  be. 
Why  should  I  and  my  children  get  more  food 
than  others  get?" 

I  admitted  that  I  could  not  see  why  she  should 

134 


PATRIOTISM   AND   A   CRAVING   STOMACH 

be  so  favored.  Still,  there  was  something  incon- 
gruous about  it  all.  I  had  been  the  guest  of  the 
baroness  in  the  great  ambassadorial  palace  on  the 
Boulevard  Ayas  Pasha  in  Pera,  and  found  it  hard 
to  believe  that  the  woman  who  had  then  dwelt 
in  nothing  less  than  regal  state  was  now  reduced 
to  the  necessity  of  taking  war-bread  with  her 
tea — even  when  she  had  visitors. 

"If  this  keeps  up  much  longer  the  race  will 
suffer,"  she  said,  after  a  while.  "I  am  beginning 
to  fear  for  the  children.  We  adults  can  stand 
this,  of  course.  But  the  children  .  .  ." 

The  baroness  has  two  small  girls,  and  to  change 
her  thoughts  I  directed  the  conversation  to 
Oriental  carpets  and  lace. 

Her  patriotism,  too,  is  of  the  lasting  sort. 

But  the  very  same  evening  I  saw  something 
different.  The  name  won't  matter. 

I  had  accepted  an  invitation  to  dinner.  It 
was  a  good  dinner — war  or  peace.  Its  piece  de 
resistance  was  a  whole  broiled  ham,  which,  as  my 
hostess  admitted,  had  cost  in  the  clandestine 
market  some  one  hundred  and  forty  marks, 
roughly  twenty-five  dollars  at  the  rate  of  ex- 
change then  in  force.  There  was  bread  enough 
and  side  dishes  galore.  It  was  also  a  meatless 
day. 

The  ham  was  one  of  several  which  had  found 
the  household  in  question  through  the  channels 
of  illicit  trade,  which  even  the  strenuous  efforts 
of  the  Prussian  government  had  not  been  able 
to  close  as  yet.  The  family  had  the  necessary 
cash,  and  in  order  to  indulge  in  former  habits 

135 


THE    IRON    RATION 

as  fully  as  possible,  it  was  using  that  cash 
freely. 

After  living  for  several  days  in  plenty  at  the 
Palads  in  Copenhagen,  and  ascertaining  that 
'paling — eel — was  still  in  favor  with  the  Dutch 
of  The  Hague,  I  returned  to  Vienna.  Gone  once 
more  were  the  days  of  wheat  bread  and  butter. 

One  rainy  afternoon  I  was  contemplating  the 
leafless  trees  on  the  Ring  through  the  windows 
of  the  Caf6  Sacher  when  two  bodies  of  mounted 
police  hove  into  view  on  the  bridle  path,  as  if 
they  were  really  in  a  great  hurry.  I  smelled  a 
food  riot,  rushed  down-stairs,  caught  a  taxi  on 
the  wing,  and  sped  after  the  equestrian  minions 
of  the  law.  Police  and  observer  pulled  up  in  the 
Josephstadt  in  the  very  center  of  a  food  dis- 
turbance. 

The  riot  had  already  cooled  down  to  the  level 
of  billingsgate.  Several  hundred  women  stood 
about  listening  to  the  epithets  which  a  smaller 
group  was  flinging  at  a  badly  mussed-up  store- 
keeper, who  seemed  greatly  concerned  about  his 
windows,  which  had  been  broken  by  somebody. 

The  police  mingled  with  the  crowd.  What  had 
happened?  Nothing  very  much,  said  the  store- 
keeper. That  remark  fanned  the  flame  of  in- 
dignation which  was  swaying  the  women.  Noth- 
ing much,  eh?  They  had  stood  since  high  noon 
in  line  for  butter  and  fat.  Up  to  an  hour  ago 
the  door  of  the  shop  had  been  closed.  When 
finally  it  was  opened  the  shopkeeper  had  an- 
nounced that  he  had  supplies  only  for  about 
fifty  fat  coupons.  Those  who  were  nearest  his 

136 


PATRIOTISM   AND   A   CRAVING   STOMACH 

door  would  be  served  and  the  others  could  go 
home. 

But  somehow  the  crowd  had  learned  that  the 
man  had  received  that  morning  from  the  Food 
Central  enough  fat  to  serve  them  all  with  the 
amount  prescribed  by  the  food  cards.  They  re- 
fused to  go  away.  Then  the  storekeeper,  in  the 
manner  which  is  typically  Viennese,  grew  sar- 
castically abusive.  Before  he  had  gone  very 
far  the  women  were  upon  him.  Others  invaded 
the  store,  found  the  place  empty,  and  then  vented 
their  wrath  on  the  fixtures  and  windows. 

I  was  greatly  interested  in  what  the  police 
would  do  with  the  rioters.  But,  instead  of  haul- 
ing the  ringleaders  to  headquarters,  they  told 
them  to  go  home  and  refrain  in  future  from 
taking  the  law  into  their  own  hands.  Within 
ten  minutes  the  riot  resolved  itself  into  good- 
natured  bantering  between  the  agents  of  the  law 
and  the  women,  and  the  incident  was  closed, 
except  for  the  shopkeeper,  who  in  court  failed  to 
clear  up  what  he  had  done  with  the  supplies  of 
butter  and  fat  that  had  been  assigned  him  for 
distribution.  He  lost  his  license  to  trade,  and 
was  fined  besides. 

Talking  with  several  women,  I  discovered  that 
none  of  them  held  the  government  responsible. 
The /'beast"  of  a  dealer  was  to  blame  for  it  all. 
This  view  was  held  largely  because  the  police 
had  gone  to  work  in  a  most  considerate  manner, 
according  to  the  instructions  issued  by  an  anxious 
government. 

In   a  previous  food  riot,  in  the  Nineteenth 

137 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Municipal  District,  the  gendarmes  had  been  less 
prudent,  with  the  result  that  the  women  turned 
on  them  and  disfigured  with  their  finger-nails 
many  a  masculine  face — my  visage  included,  be- 
cause I  had  the  misfortune  of  being  mistaken  for 
a  detective.  A  muscular  Hausmeisterin — jan- 
itress — set  upon  me  with  much  vigor.  Before  I 
could  explain,  I  was  somewhat  mussed  up, 
though  I  could  have  ended  the  offensive  by 
proper  counter  measures.  It  is  best  to  attend 
such  affairs  in  the  Austrian  equivalent  for 
overalls. 

Some  weeks  before,  the  Austrian  premier, 
Count  Stiirgkh,  had  been  shot  to  death  by  a 
radical  socialist  named  Adler.  In  his  statements 
Adler  said  that  he  had  done  this  because  of  his 
belief  that  so  long  as  Stiirgkh  was  at  the  helm  of 
the  Austrian  ship  of  state  nothing  would  be  done 
to  solve  the  food  situation. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Adler  had  thoroughly 
surveyed  the  field  of  public  subsistence.  It  is 
also  a  fact  that  he  did  the  Austrian  government 
a  great  service  by  killing  the  premier.  The  right 
and  wrong  of  the  case  need  not  occupy  us  here. 
I  am  merely  concerned  with  practical  effects. 

Count  Stiirgkh  was  an  easy-going  politician  of 
a  reactionary  type.  He  gave  no  attention  of  an 
intelligent  sort  to  the  food  problem,  and  did 
nothing  to  check  the  avarice  of  the  food  sharks, 
even  when  that  avarice  went  far  beyond  the 
mark  put  up  by  the  war -loan  scheme.  His  inertia 
led  during  the  first  months  of  the  war  to  much 
waste  and  later  to  regulations  that  could  not 

138 


PATRIOTISM   AND   A   CRAVING   STOMACH 

have  been  more  advantageous  to  the  private 
interests  of  the  food  speculators  had  they  been 
made  for  them  expressly.  No  statesman  was 
ever  carried  to  his  grave  with  fewer  regrets. 
In  the  Austrian  government  offices  a  sigh  of  re- 
lief was  heard  when  it  became  known  that 
Adler  had  shot  the  premier. 

A  revolution  could  not  have  been  averted  in 
Austria  had  Stiirgkh  continued  at  his  post  much 
longer.  At  first  he  was  attacked  only  by  the 
Wiener  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  a  socialist  daily  con- 
trolled by  the  father  of  Adler,  who,  in  addition 
to  being  the  editor-in-chief  of  the  publication,  is 
a  member  of  the  Austrian  Reichsrath  and  the 
leader  of  the  Austrian  Socialist  party.  But  later 
other  papers  began  to  object  to  Stiirgkh's  dolce 
far  niente  official  life,  among  them  the  rather 
conservative  Neue  Freie  Presse.  Others  joined. 
Ultimately  the  premier  saw  himself  deserted  even 
by  the  Fremdenblatt,  the  semi-official  organ  of  the 
government. 

Though  charged  with  incompetency  by  some 
and  with  worse  by  others,  Count  Stiirgkh  refused 
to  resign.  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  was  staying 
his  hands  and  this  made  futile  all  endeavor  to 
remove  the  count  from  his  high  office.  The  old 
emperor  thought  he  was  doing  the  best  by  his 
people,  and  had  it  not  been  that  the  Austrians 
respected  this  opinion  more  than  they  should  have 
done,  trouble  would  have  swept  the  country. 

A  new  era  dawned  after  Count  Stiirgkh's 
death.  But  his  successors  found  little  they 
could  put  in  order.  The  larder  was  empty. 

139 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Premier  Korber  tried  hard  to  give  the  people 
more  food.  But  the  food  was  no  longer  to  be 
had. 

The  loyalty  of  the  Austrian  people  to  their 
government  was  given  the  fire  test  in  those  days. 
Now  and  then  it  seemed  that  the  crisis  had  come. 
It  never  came,  however. 

Other  trips  to  the  fronts  presented  a  new  as- 
pect of  the  food  situation.  It  was  an  odd  one  at 
that.  The  men  who  had  formerly  complained 
that  their  wives  and  children  were  not  getting 
enough  to  eat  had  in  the  course  of  time  grown 
indifferent  to  this.  It  was  nothing  unusual  to 
have  men  return  to  the  front  before  their  fur- 
loughs had  expired.  At  the  front  there  were  no 
food  problems.  The  commissary  solved  them 
all.  At  home  the  man  heard  nothing  but  com- 
plaints and  usually  ate  up  what  his  children 
needed.  Little  by  little  the  Central  Power 
troops  were  infected  with  the  spirit  of  the  mer- 
cenary of  old.  Life  at  the  front  had  its  risks, 
but  it  also  removed  one  from  the  sphere  of  daily 
cares.  The  great  war-tiredness  was  making 
room  for  indifference  and  many  of  the  men  had 
truly  become  adventurers.  So  long  as  the 
Goulaschkanone  shot  the  regular  meals  every  day 
all  was  well.  The  military  commissaries  had  suc- 
ceeded by  means  of  the  stomach  in  making  the 
man  at  the  front  content  with  his  lot.  Food  con- 
ditions in  the  rear  always  offered  a  good  argu- 
ment, inarticulate  but  eloquent,  nevertheless, 
why  the  man  in  the  trenches  should  think  he  was 
well  off.  In  the  case  of  the  many  husbands  and 

140 


PATRIOTISM   AND   A    CRAVING   STOMACH 

fathers  no  mean  degree  of  indifference  and  cal- 
lousness was  required  before  this  frame  of  mind 
was  possible.  But  the  war  had  taken  care  of 
that.  War  hardly  ever  improves  the  individual. 
Out  of  sight,  out  of  mind ! 

It  was  the  craving  stomach  of  the  civil  popula- 
tion that  caused  the  several  Central  European 
governments  most  concern. 

In  the  past,  newspapers  had  been  very  careful 
when  discussing  the  food  question.  They  might 
hint  at  governmental  inefficiency  and  double- 
dealing,  but  they  could  not  afford  to  be  specific. 
The  censors  saw  to  that.  When  the  food  situa- 
tion was  nearing  its  worst  the  several  govern- 
ments, to  the  surprise  of  many,  relaxed  political 
censorship  sufficiently  so  that  newspapers  could 
say  whatever  they  pleased  on  food  questions. 
First  came  sane  criticism  and  then  a  veritable 
flood  of  abuse. 

But  that  was  what  the  authorities  wanted. 
Hard  words  break  no  bones,  and  their  use  is  the 
only  known  antidote  for  revolution.  Abuse  was 
in  the  first  place  a  fine  safety  valve,  and  then  it 
gave  the  authorities  a  chance  to  defend  them- 
selves. To-day  some  paper  would  print  an  ar- 
ticle in  which,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  reader, 
it  was  shown  that  this  or  that  had  been  badly 
managed,  and  to-morrow  the  food  authorities 
came  back  with  a  refutation  that  usually  left  a 
balance  in  favor  of  the  government.  The  thing 
was  adroitly  done  and  served  well  to  pull  the 
wool  over  the  eyes  of  the  public. 

Free  discussion  of  the  food  problem  was  the 

141 


THE    IRON    RATION 

order  of  the  day.  The  light  was  let  in  on  many 
things,  and  for  the  first  time  since  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  the  food  shark  had  to  take  to  cover. 
The  governments  let  it  be  known  that,  while  it 
was  all  very  convenient  to  blame  the  authorities 
for  everything,  it  would  be  just  as  well  if  the 
public  began  to  understand  that  it  had  a  share  of 
responsibility.  Informers  grew  like  toadstools 
after  a  warm  rain  in  June.  The  courts  v/orked 
overtime  and  the  jails  were  soon  filled.  The  food 
situation  was  such  that  the  lesser  fry  of  the 
speculators  had  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  wrath  of 
the  population.  The  big  men  continued,  how- 
ever, and  pennies  were  now  to  be  mobilized 
through  the  medium  of  commodities.  It  was  no 
longer  safe  to  squeeze  the  public  by  means  of  its 
stomach  if  patriotism  was  to  remain  an  asset 
of  the  warring  governments.  The  masses  had 
been  mulcted  of  their  last  by  this  method. 
Others  were  to  supply  the  money  needed  for  the 
war. 

I  feel  justified  in  saying  that  the  craving  stom- 
ach of  the  Central  states  would  have  served  the 
Allied  governments  in  good  stead  in  the  fall  of 
1916  had  their  militaro-political  objectives  been 
less  extensive  and  far-reaching.  The  degree  of 
hunger,  however,  was  always  counteracted  by 
the  statements  of  the  Allied  politicians  that 
nothing  but  a  complete  reduction  of  Germany 
and  Austria-Hungary  would  satisfy  them.  I  no- 
ticed that  such  announcements  generally  had  as 
a  result  a  further  tightening  of  the  belts.  Nor 
could  anybody  remain  blind  to  the  fact  that  the 

142 


PATRIOTISM   AND   A   CRAVING   STOMACH 

lean  man  is  a  more  dangerous  adversary  than 
the  sleek  citizen.  Discipline  of  the  stomach  is 
the  first  step  in  discipline  of  the  mind.  There 
is  a  certain  joy  in  asceticism  and  the  conscious- 
ness that  eating  to  live  has  many  advantages 
over  living  to  eat. 

The  Central  Power  governments  did  not  lose 
sight  of  this  truth. 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING   THE   SUBSTITUTE 

MUCH  nonsense  has  been  disseminated  on 
the  success  of  the  Germans,  Austrians,  and 
Hungarians  in  inventing  substitutes  for  the 
things  that  were  hard  to  get  during  the  war.  A 
goodly  share  of  that  nonsense  came  from  the 
Germans  and  their  allies  themselves.  But  more 
of  it  was  given  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven  by  ad- 
miring friends,  who  were  as  enthusiastic  in  such 
matters  as  they  were  ignorant  of  actual  achieve- 
ments. 

That  much  was  done  in  that  field  is  true 
enough.  But  a  great  deal  of  scientific  effort  re- 
sulted in  no  more  than  what,  for  instance, 
synthetic  rubber  has  been. 

The  first  thing  the  German  scientists  did  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  was  to  perfect  the  system  of 
a  Norwegian  chemist  who  had  succeeded  two 
years  before  in  condensing  the  nitrogen  of  the  air 
into  the  highly  tangible  form  of  crystals. 

Many  are  under  the  impression  that  the 
process  was  something  entirely  new  and  dis- 
tinctly a  German  invention.  I  have  shown  that 
this  is  not  so.  Even  the  Norwegian  cannot  claim 

144 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING    THE    SUBSTITUTE 

credit  for  the  invention  as  in  itself  new.  His 
merit  is  that  he  made  the  process  commercially 
possible. 

The  thing  was  a  huge  success.  The  British 
blockade  had  made  the  importation  of  niter  from 
overseas  impossible.  There  is  no  telling  what 
would  have  happened  except  for  the  fact  that  the 
practically  inexhaustible  store  of  nitrogen  in  the 
air  could  be  drawn  upon.  It  kept  the  Central 
Powers  group  of  belligerents  in  powder,  so  long 
as  there  was  vegetable  fiber  and  coal-tar  enough 
to  be  nitrated.  Incidentally,  some  of  the  by- 
products of  the  nitrogen  process  served  in  good 
stead  as  fertilizer.  The  quantity  won  was  not 
great,  however. 

I  am  not  dealing  with  war  as  such,  and  for  that 
reason  I  will  pass  by  the  many  minor  inventions 
of  a  purely  military  character  that  were  made, 
nor  would  it  be  possible  to  do  more  than  a 
cataloguing  job  if  I  were  to  attempt  to  refer  here 
to  all  the  innovations  and  substitutions  that 
were  undertaken  as  time  went  on. 

Science  multiplied  by  three  the  store  of  tex- 
tiles held  in  the  Central  states  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war.  This  was  done  in  many  ways  and 
by  various  means.  Take  cotton,  for  instance. 

That  almost  anything  could  be  converted  into 
explosives  by  nitration  has  been  known  ever 
since  Noble  made  nitroglycerine  a  commercial 
product.  Any  fat  or  fiber,  even  sugar,  may  be 
nitrated.  That  generally  we  use  glycerine  and 
cotton  for  the  purpose  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
these  materials  are  best  suited  for  the  process. 

145 


THE    IRON    RATION 

But  the  fats  that  go  into  glycerine,  and  the 
cotton  that  becomes  trinitrocellulose,  could  be 
put  to  better  use  by  the  Central  states.  In  a 
general  way  coal-tar  took  the  place  of  the  former, 
and  wood  pulp  that  of  cotton.  That  meant  a 
tremendous  saving  in  food  and  clothing. 

I  remember  well  the  shiver  that  went  through 
Germany  when  Great  Britain  declared  cotton 
to  be  contraband.  The  Entente  press  was 
jubilant  for  weeks.  But  any  chemist  familiar 
with  the  manufacture  of  explosives  could  have 
told  Sir  Kendall  that  he  was  too  optimistic.  It 
was  known  even  then  that  birch  pulp  and  willow 
pulp  made  most  excellent  substitutes  for  cotton, 
if  the  process,  or  "operation,"  as  the  thing  is 
known  technically,  is  suitably  modified.  Coal-tar 
explosives  were  already  unfait  accompli. 

Having  attended  to  that  little  affair,  the 
German  scientists  turned  their  attention  to  the 
winning  of  new  textiles.  There  was  the  nettle 
in  the  hedges.  Anciently,  it  had  been  to  Europe 
what  cotton  was  to  the  Mexico  of  the  Aztecs. 
Times  being  hard,  the  nettle,  now  looked  upon 
as  a  noxious  weed  fit  only  for  goose  fodder,  was 
brought  into  its  place.  Very  soon  it  was  in 
the  market  as  a  textile,  which  often  aspired  to 
as  imposing  a  name  as  "natural  silk,"  a  name  the 
plant  and  its  fiber  well  deserve. 

The  chemist  had  very  little  to  do  with  that. 
The  process  was  known  and,  being  in  the  main 
similar  to  the  production  of  flax  fiber,  presented 
no  difficulties.  The  plant  is  cut,  packed  tightly 
under  water  so  that  the  vegetable  pulp  may 

146 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING    THE    SUBSTITUTE 

decay,  and  is  then  dried  in  the  sun  and  prepared 
for  spinning. 

Though  the  Central  states  were  now  importing 
annually  from  Turkey  in  Asia  some  eighteen 
thousand  bales  of  cotton,  considerable  silk  and 
wool,  and  were  getting  wool  also  in  the  Balkan 
countries,  there  continued  to  be  felt  a  shortage 
in  textiles  and  their  raw  materials.  The  situa- 
tion was  never  serious.  The  fiber  of  worn 
materials  was  being  used  again,  and  so  long  as 
enough  new  material  was  added  the  shoddy  pro- 
duced gave  ample  satisfaction. 

The  paucity  of  textiles,  however,  gave  rise 
to  the  paper-cloth  industry.  It  was  realized 
that  for  many  purposes  for  which  textiles  were 
being  used  the  paper  cloth  was  well  suited. 
That  applied  especially  to  all  the  uses  manila 
and  jute  had  been  given  in  the  past. 

Even  here  it  was  not  a  question  of  inventing 
something.  Paper  twine  had  been  in  use  in 
Central  Europe  for  many  years;  it  had,  in  fact, 
been  laid  under  ban  by  the  Austrian  government 
— I  don't  know  for  what  reason. 

From  paper  twine  to  paper  cloth  was  quite  a 
step,  however.  Anybody  can  twist  a  piece  of 
tissue-paper  into  a  rope,  but  to  make  a  reason- 
ably strong  thread  or  yarn  of  it  is  another 
matter. 

The  pulp  for  paper  cloth  must  be  tough  and 
not  pack  too  tightly  while  the  stuff  is  being 
made.  In  this  first  form  the  product  much  re- 
sembles an  unbleached  tissue-paper.  Since  the 
paper  has  to  be  in  rolls,  its  manufacture  was 

147 


THE    IRON    RATION 

undertaken  by  the  mills  which  in  the  past  had 
turned  out  "news  print." 

The  rolls  are  then  set  into  a  machine,  the 
principal  feature  of  which  is  an  arrangement  of 
sharp  rotary  blades  that  will  cut  the  sheet  into 
strips  or  ribbons  a  quarter-inch  wide — or  wider, 
if  that  be  desired.  The  ribbons  are  gathered 
on  spools  that  revolve  not  only  about  their 
axes,  but  also  about  themselves,  at  a  speed  that 
will  give  the  paper  ribbon  the  necessary  twist 
or  spinning.  Raw  paper  yarn  has  now  been 
produced. 

For  many  purposes  the  yarn  can  be  used  in 
the  condition  it  is  now  in.  For  others  it  must 
be  chemically  treated.  The  process  is  not  dis- 
similar to  "parchmenting"  paper.  During  the 
treatment  the  yarn  hardens  quite  a  little.  When 
intended  to  make  bagging  and  other  textiles  of 
that  sort,  this  will  not  matter.  The  yarn  must 
be  softened  again  if  intended  for  the  paper  cloth 
that  is  to  take  the  place  of  serge,  possibly.  This 
is  done  mechanically,  by  means  of  beating. 

The  yarn  does  not  have  the  necessary  strength 
to  form  a  fabric  when  not  reinforced  by  a  tougher 
fiber.  As  a  rule,  it  becomes  the  warp  of  the  cloth, 
flax,  cotton,  and  even  silk  being  employed  as 
the  weft.  When  intended  for  military  overcoats 
a  wool  yarn  is  used.  In  this  case  the  cloth  is 
given  a  water-proofing  treatment.  A  warm  gar- 
ment that  is  thoroughly  water-proof  without 
being  air-tight  results. 

Paper  cloth  does  not  have  the  tensile  quali- 
ties of  good  shoddy  even,  and  for  that  reason 

148 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING    THE    SUBSTITUTE 

it  is  mostly  used  for  purposes  to  which  severe 
usage  is  not  incident.  For  instance,  it  will  make 
splendid  sweater  coats  for  ladies  and  children. 
It  will  also  take  the  place  of  felt  for  hats. 

The  endeavor  to  find  a  substitute  for  sole 
leather  was  not  so  successful,  even  when  finally 
it  was  decided  that  leather  soles  could  be  made 
only  of  animal  tissue.  There  was  leather  enough 
for  uppers  always,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  the  supply  of  hides  was  large  enough  also 
to  fill  all  reasonable  demands  for  soles.  The 
trouble  lay  in  the  nature  of  the  hides,  not  in 
their  scarcity.  Horned  cattle  in  Central  Europe 
are  stabled  almost  throughout  the  year  and  in 
this  manner  protected  against  the  inclemency  of 
the  weather.  A  tender  hide  has  been  the  result 
of  this — a  hide  so  tender  that,  while  it  will 
make  the  finest  uppers,  is  next  to  useless  as  a 
sole. 

A  very  interesting  solution  was  found  in  the 
use  of  wooden  soles.  A  thousand  capable  brains 
had  been  occupied  with  the  sole-leather  sub- 
stitutes, and  finally  they  ruled  that  wood  in 
its  natural  state  was  the  next  best  thing.  So  far 
as  the  rural  population  was  concerned,  that  was 
well  enough.  But  wooden  soles  and  city  pave- 
ments are  irreconcilable.  How  to  make  that 
wooden  sole  bend  a  little  at  the  instep  was  the 
question. 

A  sole  was  tried  whose  two  halves  were  held 
together  under  the  instep  by  a  sort  of  specially  de- 
signed hinge.  That  seemed  an  improvement  over 
the  single  piece  of  wood,  but  soon  it  was  found 

II  149 


THE    IRON    RATION 

that  it  had  the  dangerous  tendency  to  break 
down  arches,  which  the  hinged  sole  left  unsup- 
ported at  the  very  point  where  the  support  should 
have  been. 

The  experiments  were  continued.  Inventors 
and  cranks  worked  at  them  for  nearly  two 
years.  The  best  they  ever  did  was  to  displace 
the  hinge  for  a  flexible  bit  of  steel  plate.  Com- 
mon sense  finally  came  to  the  rescue.  The 
best  shoe  with  a  wooden  sole  was  the  one  that 
gave  the  foot  lots  of  room  about  the  ankle, 
held  the  instep  snug,  and  made  up  for  the 
flexibility  of  the  leather  sole  by  a  rounding-off 
of  the  wooden  sole  under  the  toes.  A  good  and 
very  serviceable  wooden-sole  shoe  with  leather 
uppers  had  been  evolved.  The  scientists  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it. 

It  was  the  department  of  food  substitution 
that  was  really  the  most  interesting.  For  dec- 
ades food  in  tabloid  form  has  interested  the 
men  in  the  chemical  laboratories.  Some  of  them 
have  asserted  that  man  could  be  fed  chemically. 
Theoretically  that  may  be  done;  in  practice  it 
is  impossible.  If  the  intestinal  tracts  could  be 
lined  with  platinum  men  might  be  able  to  live 
on  acids  of  almost  any  sort.  Such  is  not  the 
case  at  present,  however. 

The  very  wise  pure-food  laws  of  the  Central 
states  were  thrown  on  the  rubbish-heap  by  the 
governments  when  stretching  the  food-supply 
became  necessary.  They  were  first  knocked 
into  the  proverbial  cocked  hat  by  the  food  sharks. 
What  these  men  were  doing  was  known  to  the 

150 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING   THE    SUBSTITUTE 

governments,  but  these  were  not  times  to  be 
particular.  If  it  were  possible  to  adulterate 
flour  with  ground  clover  there  was  no  reason 
why  this  should  not  be  done,  even  if  the  profit 
went  into  the  pockets  of  the  shark,  so  long  as 
the  same  individual  would  later  subscribe  to  the 
war  loans.  It  was  merely  another  way  of  mo- 
bilizing the  pennies  and  their  fractions. 

But  to  much  of  this  an  end  had  to  be  put. 
Too  much  exploitation  of  the  populace  might 
cause  internal  trouble.  It  might  also  lead  to 
ruining  the  health  of  the  entire  nation,  and 
that  was  a  dangerous  course. 

How  to  substitute  flour  was  indeed  a  great 
and  urgent  problem.  There  were  those  en- 
thusiasts who  thought  that  it  could  be  done 
chemically.  Why  leave  to  the  slow  and  uncer- 
tain process  of  plant  conversion  that  which 
chemistry  could  do  quickly  and  surely?  If  cer- 
tain elements  passing  through  plant  life  made 
flour  in  the  end,  why  not  have  them  do  that 
without  the  assistance  of  the  crop  season? 

I  read  some  very  learned  articles  on  that  sub- 
ject. But  there  was  always  an  if.  If  this  and 
that  could  be  overcome,  or  if  this  and  that  could 
be  done,  the  thing  would  be  successful. 

It  never  was,  of  course.  Organic  life  rests 
on  Mother  Earth  in  layers,  and  the  more  de- 
veloped this  life  is  the  farther  it  lies  above  the 
mere  soil — the  inorganic.  The  baby  needing 
milk  is  above  the  cow,  the  cow  needing  vegetable 
food  is  above  the  plants,  and  even  the  plants 
do  not  depend  on  inorganic  elements  alone,  as 

151 


THE    IRON   RATION 

can  be  learned  by  any  farmer  who  tries  to  raise 
alfalfa  on  soil  that  does  not  contain  the  cultures 
the  plant  must  have.  These  cultures  again  feed 
on  organic  life. 

This  was  the  rock  on  which  the  efforts  of 
the  chemical-food  experts  were  wrecked.  Soon 
they  began  to  see  that  substitution  would  have 
to  take  the  place  of  invention  and  innovation. 

They  used  to  sell  in  the  cafe's  of  Vienna,  and 
other  large  cities,  a  cake  made  mostly  of  ground 
clover  meal,  to  which  was  added  the  flour  of 
horse-chestnuts,  a  little  rice,  some  glucose,  a 
little  sugar  and  honey,  and  chopped  prunes  when 
raisins  could  not  be  had.  The  thing  was  very 
palatable,  and  nutritious,  as  an  analysis  would 
show.  There  were  enough  food  units  in  it  to 
make  the  vehicle,  which  here  was  clover  meal, 
really  worth  while. 

I  mention  this  case  to  show  what  are  the  prin- 
cipal requirements  of  food  for  human  consump- 
tion. There  must  be  a  vehicle  if  alimentation  is 
to  be  normal.  This  vehicle  is  generally  known 
as  ashes.  It  is  to  the  human  alimentary  system 
what  bread  is  to  butter  and  meat  in  the  sand- 
wich. Through  it  are  distributed  the  actual 
food  elements,  and  in  their  preparation  for  ab- 
sorption it  occupies  the  place  of  the  sand  and 
grit  we  find  in  the  crop  of  the  fowl.  In  the 
toothsome  cake  I  have  described,  these  factors 
had  been  duly  honored,  and  for  that  reason  the 
cake  was  a  success  even  at  the  price  it  sold  for 
— an  ounce  for  three  cents. 

The  first  war-bread  baked  was  a  superior  sort 

152 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING    THE    SUBSTITUTE 

of  rye  bread,  containing  in  proportions  55,  25, 
20,  rye  flour,  wheat  flour,  and  potato  meal  or 
flakes,  sugar,  and  fat.  That  was  no  great  trick, 
of  course.  Any  baker  could  have  thought  of 
that.  But  rye  and  wheat  flour  were  not  always 
plentiful,  even  when  government  decree  insisted 
that  they  be  milled  to  85  per  cent,  flour,  leaving 
15  per  cent,  as  bran — the  very  outer  hull.  Oats, 
Indian  corn,  barley,  beans,  peas,  and  buckwheat 
meal  had  to  be  added  as  time  went  on. 

That  was  a  more  difficult  undertaking  and 
afforded  the  scientist  the  chance  to  do  yeoman 
service.  He  was  not  found  wanting. 

Imports  of  coffee  had  become  impossible  in 
1916.  The  scant  stores  on  hand  had  been 
stretched  and  extenuated  by  the  use  of  chicory 
and  similar  supplements.  I  used  to  wonder  how 
it  was  possible  to  make  so  little  go  so  far,  despite 
the  fact  that  the  demi-tasse  was  coffee  mostly  in 
color  by  this  time. 

A  period  of  transition  from  coffee  to  coffee 
substitutes  came. 

The  first  substitute  was  not  a  bad  one.  It 
was  made  mostly  of  roasted  barley  and  oats  and 
its  flavor  had  been  well  touched  off  by  chemicals 
won  from  coal-tar.  The  brew  had  the  advantage 
of  containing  a  good  percentage  of  nutritive 
elements.  Taken  with  a  little  milk  and  sugar 
it  had  all  the  advantages  of  coffee,  minus  the 
effect  of  caffeine  and  plus  the  value  of  the  food 
particles.  It  was  palatable  even  when  taken 
with  sugar  only.  Without  this  complement  it 
was  impossible,  however. 

153 


THE    IRON    RATION 

But  the  grain  so  used  could  be  put  to  better  pur- 
pose. This  led  to  the  introduction  of  the  sub- 
stitute of  a  substitute.  The  next  sort  of  artificial 
coffee — Kaffee-ersatz-ersatz — was  made  of  roasted 
acorns  and  beechnuts,  with  just  enough  roasted 
barley  to  build  up  a  coffee  flavor.  This  product, 
too,  was  healthful.  It  may  even  be  said  that  it 
was  a  little  better  than  the  first  substitute.  It 
certainly  was  more  nourishing,  but  also  more 
expensive. 

There  were  not  acorns  and  beechnuts  enough, 
however.  Much  of  the  store  had  been  fed  to 
the  porkers,  and  before  long  the  excellent  acorn- 
beechnut  coffee  disappeared. 

A  third  substitute  came  in  the  market.  Its 
principal  ingredients  were  carrots  and  yellow 
turnips. 

To  find  substitutes  for  tea  was  not  difficult. 
The  bloom  of  the  linden-tree,  mixed  with  beech 
buds,  makes  an  excellent  beverage,  and  those 
who  dote  on  "oolong"  can  meet  their  taste 
somewhat  by  adding  to  this  a  few  tips  of  pine. 
If  too  much  of  the  pine  bud  is  used  a  very 
efficacious  emetic  will  result,  however. 

The  mysteries  of  cocoa  substitutions  are  a  little 
above  me.  I  can  say,  however,  that  roasted 
peas  and  oats  have  much  to  do  with  it.  Some 
of  the  materials  employed  were  supplied  by  coal- 
tar  and  synthetic  chemistry. 

It  was  really  remarkable  what  this  coal-tar 
would  do  for  the  Germans  and  their  allies.  It 
provided  them  with  the  base  for  their  explosives, 
made  then*  dyes,  and  from  it  were  made  at  one 

154 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING   THE    SUBSTITUTE 

period  of  the  war,  by  actual  enumeration,  four 
hundred  and  forty-six  distinct  and  separate 
chemical  products  used  in  medicine,  sanitation, 
and  food  substitution.  If  there  be  such  a  thing 
as  an  elixir  of  life,  coal-tar  may  be  expected  to 
furnish  it. 

But  the  net  gain  in  this  casting  about  for  sub- 
stitutes was  slight  indeed.  The  grains,  nuts,  and 
vegetables  that  were  used  as  substitutes  for  coffee 
would  have  had  the  same  food  value  if  consumed 
in  some  other  form.  The  advantage  was  that 
their  conversion  served  to  placate  the  old  eat- 
ing habits  of  the  public.  To  what  extent  these 
had  to  be  placated  was  made  plain  on  every 
meatless,  fatless,  or  wheatless  or  some  other 
"less"  day  or  period. 

There  was  the  rice  "lamb"  chop,  for  instance. 
The  rice  was  boiled  and  then  formed  into  lumps 
resembling  a  chop.  Into  the  lump  a  skewer  of 
wood  was  stuck  to  serve  as  a  bone,  and  to  make 
the  illusion  more  complete  a  little  paper  rosette 
was  used  to  top  off  the  "bone."  All  of  it  was 
very  comme  il  faut.  Then  the  things  were  fried 
in  real  mutton  tallow,  and  when  they  came  on 
the  table  its  looks  and  aroma,  now  reinforced  by 
green  peas  and  a  sprig  of  watercress,  would  sat- 
isfy the  most  exacting.  Nor  could  fault  be  found 
with  the  taste. 

The  vegetable  beefsteak  was  another  thing  that 
gave  great  satisfaction,  once  you  had  become  used 
to  the  color  of  the  thing's  interior,  which  was  pale 
green — a  signal  in  a  real  steak  that  it  should  not 
be  eaten.  The  steak  in  question  was  a  synthetic 

155 


THE    IRON    RATION 

affair,  composed  of  cornmeal,  spinach,  potatoes, 
and  ground  nuts.  An  egg  was  used  to  bind  the 
mass  together,  and  some  of  the  culinary  lights  of 
Berlin  and  Vienna  succeeded  in  making  it  cohe- 
sive enough  to  require  the  knife  in  real  earnest. 

What  I  have  outlined  here  so  far  may  be  called 
the  private  effort  at  substitution.  But  substitu- 
tion also  had  a  governmental  application.  Its 
purpose  was  to  break  the  populace  of  its  habit 
of  eating  highly  concentrated  foods,  especially 
fats. 

The  slaughter  of  the  porkers  in  1914  had  ac- 
cidentally led  the  way  to  this  policy.  The 
shortage  in  fats  caused  by  this  economic  error 
was  soon  to  illustrate  that  the  masses  could  get 
along  very  well  on  about  a  quarter  of  the  fat  they 
had  consumed  in  the  past.  Soon  it  was  plain, 
also,  that  the  health  of  the  public  could  be  im- 
proved in  this  manner  by  the  gradual  building 
up  of  a  stronger  physique. 

It  would  have  been  easy  to  again  crowd  the 
pigsties.  The  animal  is  very  prolific,  and  a  little 
encouragement  of  the  pig-raisers  would  have  had 
that  result  inside  of  a  year  had  it  been  desired. 
But  it  was  not  done.  It  was  difficult  to  get  the 
necessary  feed  for  these  animals,  and  the  small 
quantities  that  could  be  imported  from  Roumania 
were  never  a  guarantee  that  the  farmers  would 
not  feed  their  pigs  with  home-raised  cereals  and 
other  foods  that  were  of  greater  value  to  the 
state  in  the  form  of  cereal  and  vegetable  food 
for  the  population.  The  prices  of  fats  and  meats 
were  well  up.  A  hundred  pounds  of  wheat  con- 

156 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING   THE    SUBSTITUTE 

verted  into  animal  products  would  bring  nearly 
three  times  what  the  farmer  could  get  for  the 
grain.  Illicit  trading  in  these  articles,  more- 
over, was  easier  carried  on  than  in  breadstuffs. 

Since  no  animal  fats,  be  they  butter,  lard,  or 
suet,  could  be  produced  without  sacrificing  a 
goodly  share  of  the  country's  cereal  supply,  it 
was  necessary  to  keep  the  animal-product  in- 
dustry down  to  its  lowest  possible  level.  It  was 
easier  to  distribute  equitably  the  larger  masses 
of  cereals  and  vegetables  than  the  concentrated 
foods  into  which  animal  industry  would  convert 
them.  To  permit  that  would  also  have  led  to 
more  hardship  for  the  lower  classes  at  a  time 
when  money  was  cheap  and  prices  correspond- 
ingly high. 

The  crux  of  the  situation  was  to  fill  the  public 
stomach  as  well  as  conditions  permitted,  and  the 
consumption  of  fats  could  have  no  place  in  that 
scheme  under  the  circumstances.  It  was  decided, 
therefore,  to  have  the  human  stomach  do  what 
heretofore  had  largely  been  attended  to  by  the 
animal  industries.  An  entire  series  of  frictional 
waste  could  in  that  manner  be  eliminated,  as 
indeed  it  was. 

The  same  policy  led  to  a  reduction  in  the 
supply  of  eggs.  To  keep  the  human  stomach 
occupied  had  become  as  much  a  necessity  as 
furnishing  nutriment  to  the  body. 

I  doubt  whether  without  this  happy  idea  the 
Central  states  would  have  been  able  to  carry  on 
the  war.  The  saving  due  to  the  policy  was  im- 
mense— so  stupendous,  in  fact,  that  at  the  same 

157 


THE    IRON    RATION 

time  it  discounted  the  impossibility  of  importing 
foodstuffs  and  took  ample  care  of  the  losses  in 
food  production  due  to  the  shortage  of  labor  and 
fertilizers.  It  was  the  one  and  only  thing  that 
stood  between  the  Central  Powers  and  swift 
defeat. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  effect  upon  cer- 
tain classes  of  population  was  not  so  propitious. 
The  lack  of  sufficient  good  milk  caused  an  in- 
crease in  infant  mortality.  The  feeble  of  all 
ages  were  carried  off  quickly  when  concentrated 
foods  could  no  longer  be  had  to  keep  them  alive, 
and  persons  of  middle  age  and  old  age  suffered  so 
much  that  death  was  in  many  cases  a  welcome 
relief.  While  the  healthy  adult  men  and  women 
did  not  suffer  by  this  sort  of  rationing — grew 
stronger,  in  fact — those  past  the  prime  of  life 
could  not  readjust  themselves  to  the  iron  food 
discipline  that  was  enforced.  The  alimentary 
system  in  that  case  had  entered  upon  its  down- 
ward curve  of  assimilation  over  elimination,  and, 
constitutionally  modified  by  the  ease  afforded 
by  concentrated  foods,  it  declined  rapidly  when 
these  foods  were  withdrawn.  Driven  by  neces- 
sity, the  several  states  practised  wholesale  man- 
slaughter of  the  less  fit. 

I  was  greatly  interested  in  these  "home" 
casualties,  and  discussed  them  with  many, 
among  them  life-insurance  men,  educators,  and 
government  officials.  The  first  class  took  a 
strictly  business  view  of  the  thing.  The  life- 
insurance  companies  were  heavy  losers.  But 
there  was  no  way  out.  Nothing  at  all  could  be 

158 


SUB-SUBSTITUTING   THE    SUBSTITUTE 

done.  It  was  hoped  that  the  better  physical 
trim  of  the  young  adults,  and  the  resulting  longev- 
ity, would  reimburse  the  life-insurers.  If  the 
war  did  not  last  too  long  this  would  indeed  hap- 
pen. Premiums  would  have  to  be  increased, 
however,  if  it  became  necessary  for  the  govern- 
ment to  apply  further  food  restrictions. 

Some  of  the  educators  took  a  sentimental  view 
of  the  thing.  Others  were  cynically  rational. 
It  all  depended  upon  their  viewpoint  and  age. 
Those  who  believed  in  the  theories  of  one  Osier 
could  see  nothing  wrong  in  this  method  of  killing 
off  the  unfit  aged.  Their  opposites  thought  it 
shameful  that  better  provisions  were  not  made 
for  them. 

The  attitude  of  the  government  was  more  in- 
teresting. It  took  cognizance  of  the  individual 
and  social  aspects  involved — of  sentiment  and 
reality.  That  manslaughter  of  the  aged  and  un- 
fit was  the  result  of  the  food  policy  was  not 
denied.  But  could  the  state  be  expected  to 
invite  dissolution  because  of  that? 

"I  understand  you  perfectly,"  said  a  certain 
food-dictator  to  me  once.  "My  own  parents 
are  in  that  position,  or  would  be,  were  it  not 
that  they  have  the  means  to  buy  the  more  ex- 
pensive foods.  That  thousands  of  the  poor  aged 
are  going  to  a  premature  death  is  only  too  evi- 
dent. But  what  are  we  to  do?  We  cannot  for 
their  sake  lay  down  our  arms  and  permit  our  ene- 
mies to  impose  upon  us  whatever  conditions  they 
please.  Quite  apart  from  the  interests  of  the 
state  as  a  political  unit,  there  is  here  to  be  con- 

159 


THE    IRON   RATION 

sidered  the  welfare  of  the  fit  individuals.  Being 
fit,  they  have  the  greatest  claim  to  the  benefits 
that  come  from  the  social  and  economic  institu- 
tions which  political  independence  alone  can  give. 
That  the  less  fit  must  make  sacrifices  for  that  is 
to  be  expected,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  it 
is  the  fit  class  which  is  carrying  on  the  war  and 
shedding  its  blood  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
state.  By  the  time  we  have  provided  for  the 
infants  and  babies  there  is  nothing  left  for  the 
aged  over  and  above  what  the  adult  individual 
gets.  Of  the  babies  we  must  take  care  because 
they  are  the  carriers  of  our  future.  Of  the  aged 
we  should  take  care  because  they  have  given 
us  our  past.  But  when  it  comes  to  choose  which 
class  to  preserve,  I  would  say  the  young  every 
time." 

For  live-stock-owning  governments  that  is  in- 
deed the  proper  view  to  take;  and  since  all 
governments  belong  to  that  class,  more  or  less, 
it  seems  futile  to  find  fault  with  this  food- 
dictator.  The  man  forced  to  decide  whether  he 
would  give  the  last  morsel  to  his  old  father  or 
his  young  son  might  select  to  divide  that  morsel 
evenly  between  them.  But  if  the  old  man  was 
worth  his  salt  at  all  he  would  insist  that  the 
boy  be  given  all  the  food.  A  social  aggregate 
that  cannot  act  in  accordance  with  this  prin- 
ciple is  shortening  its  own  day. 


THE  CRUMBS 

OCTOBER,  1916,  marked  the  high  water  of 
the  Central  European  public  -  subsistence 
problems.  Misery  had  reached  the  limits  of 
human  endurance.  For  the  next  seven  months 
the  strain  caused  by  it  tore  at  the  vitals  of  the 
Central  states.  The  measures  then  conceived  and 
applied  would  prove  whether  or  no  the  collapse 
of  Germany  and  her  allies  could  be  averted.  So 
serious  was  the  situation  that  the  several  govern- 
ments felt  compelled  to  send  out  peace-feelers, 
one  or  two  of  them  being  definite  propositions 
of  a  general  nature. 

The  crumbs  and  scraps  had  been  saved  for  a 
long  time  even  then.  As  far  back  as  November, 
1914,  all  garbage  had  been  carefully  sorted  into 
rubbish  and  food  remnants  which  might  serve 
as  animal  feed.  But  that  was  no  longer  necessary 
now.  Food  remnants  no  longer  went  into  the 
garbage-cans.  Nor  was  it  necessary  to  advise 
the  public  not  to  waste  old  clothing  and  other 
textiles.  The  ragman  was  paying  too  good  a 
price  for  them.  Much  of  the  copper  and  brass 
complement  of  households  had  been  turned  over 

161 


THE    IRON    RATION 

to  the  government,  and  most  copper  roofs  were 
being  replaced  by  tin.  The  church  bells  were 
being  smelted.  Old  iron  fetched  a  fancy  price. 
In  the  currency  iron  was  taking  the  place  of 
nickel.  Old  paper  was  in  keen  demand.  The 
sweepings  of  the  street  were  being  used  as  fer- 
tilizer. During  the  summer  and  fall  the  hedges 
had  been  searched  for  berries,  and  in  the  wood- 
lands thousands  of  women  and  children  had 
been  busy  gathering  mushrooms  and  nuts.  To 
meet  the  ever-growing  scarcity  of  fuel  the  German 
government  permitted  the  villagers  to  lop  the 
dead  wood  in  the  state  forests.  To  ease  the 
needs  of  the  small  live-stock-owner  he  was 
allowed  to  cut  grass  on  the  fiscal  woodlands 
and  gather  the  dead  leaves  for  stable  bedding. 

It  was  a  season  of  saving  scraps.  The  entire 
economic  machinery  seemed  ready  for  the  scrap- 
heap.  Much  of  the  saving  that  was  being  prac- 
tised was  leading  to  economic  waste. 

The  city  streets  were  no  longer  as  clean  as  they 
used  to  be.  During  the  summer  much  light-fuel 
had  been  saved  by  the  introduction  of  "summer 
time.'*  The  clocks  were  set  ahead  an  hour,  so 
that  people  rose  shortly  after  dawn,  worked  their 
customary  ten  hours  in  the  shops  and  factories, 
and  then  still  had  enough  daylight  to  work  in 
their  gardens.  When  dusk  came  they  went  to 
bed.  Street  traction  had  been  limited  also. 
The  early  closing  of  shops,  cafes,  and  restaurants 
effected  further  savings  in  light,  and,  above  all, 
eatables. 

The  countryside  presented  a  dreary  picture. 

162 


THE    CRUMBS 

Nobody  had  time  to  whitewash  the  buildings, 
and  few  cared  about  the  appearance  of  their 
homes.  What  is  the  use?  they  said.  They 
could  wait  until  better  times  came.  The  dilapi- 
dated shutter  kept  fit  company  with  the  rain- 
streaked  wall.  The  untidy  yard  harmonized 
with  the  neglected  garden  in  a  veritable  diapason 
of  indifference.  The  implements  and  tools  of  the 
farm  were  left  where  they  had  been  used  last. 
The  remaining  stock  had  an  unkempt  look 
about  it. 

I  remember  how  during  a  trip  in  Steiermark 
I  once  compared  the  commonwealth  with  a 
lonely  hen  I  saw  scratching  for  food  in  a  yard. 
The  rusty  plumage  of  the  bird  showed  that  no- 
body had  fed  it  in  months.  There  was  no  doubt, 
though,  that  somebody  expected  that  hen  to  lay 
eggs. 

It  was  now  a  question,  however,  of  saving  the 
scraps  of  the  state — of  the  socio-economic  fabric. 
The  flood-  of  regulation  which  had  spilled  over 
Central  Europe  had  pulled  so  many  threads  out 
of  the  socio-economic  life  that,  like  a  thin-worn 
shawl,  it  had  no  longer  the  qualities  of  keeping 
warm  those  under  it.  The  threads  had  been 
used  by  those  in  the  trenches,  and  the  civilian 
population  had  been  unable  to  replace  them. 

It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  give  within  the 
confines  of  a  single  volume  a  list  of  these  regula- 
tions, together  with  a  discussion  of  their  many 
purposes,  tendencies,  and  effects.  I  would  have 
to  start  with  the  economic  embryo  of  all  social 
economy — the  exchange  of  foocl  between  the 

163 


THE    IRON    RATION 

tiller  of  the  soil  and  the  fisherman — to  make  a 
good  job  of  that. 

A  little  intensive  reasoning  will  show  what  the 
processes  applied  in  Central  Europe  had  been  up 
to  the  fall  of  1916.  Regulated  was  then  almost 
everything  man  needs  in  order  to  live:  bread, 
fats,  meat,  butter,  milk,  eggs,  peas,  beans,  po- 
tatoes, sugar,  beer,  fuel,  clothing,  shoes,  and  coal- 
oil.  These  were  the  articles  directly  under  con- 
trol. Under  the  indirect  influence  of  regulation, 
however,  lay  everything,  water  and  air  alone 
excepted. 

Now,  the  purpose  of  this  regulation  had  been 
to  save  and  to  provide  the  government  with  the 
funds  needed  for  the  war.  That  was  well  enough 
so  long  as  there  was  something  to  save.  But  the 
time  was  come  in  which  the  governmental  effort 
at  saving  was  futile  endeavor.  There  was  noth- 
ing that  could  be  saved  any  more.  Surpluses  had 
ceased  to  be.  Production  no  longer  equaled  con- 
sumption, and  when  that  state  of  things  comes 
crumbs  and  scraps  disappear  of  themselves. 

Once  I  had  to  have  a  pair  of  heels  straightened. 
I  had  no  trouble  finding  a  cobbler.  But  the 
cobbler  had  no  leather. 

"Surely,"  I  said,  "you  can  find  scraps  enough 
to  fix  these  heels!" 

"But,  I  can't,  sir!"  replied  the  man.  "I 
cannot  buy  scraps,  even.  There  is  no  more 
leather.  I  am  allowed  a  small  quantity  each 
month.  But  what  I  had  has  been  used  up  long 
ago.  If  you  have  another  old  pair  of  shoes, 
bring  them  around.  I  can  use  part  of  the  soles 

164 


THE    CRUMBS 

of  them  to  repair  the  heels,  and  for  the  remainder 
I  will  pay  with  my  labor.  I  won't  charge  you 
anything  for  mending  your  shoes." 

I  accepted  the  proposal  and  learned  later  that 
the  cobbler  had  not  made  so  bad  a  bargain,  after 
all. 

A  similar  policy  had  to  be  adopted  to  keep  the 
Central  populations  in  clothes.  Germany,  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, Bulgaria,  and  Turkey  produce 
considerable  quantities  of  wool,  flax,  silk,  and 
cotton.  But  what  they  produce  was  not  enough 
to  go  around,  and  the  men  at  the  front  were 
wearing  out  their  uniforms  at  an  alarming  rate. 
The  military  authorities  felt  that  nothing  would 
be  gained  by  making  the  uniforms  of  poor  cloth. 
The  wear  and  tear  on  the  fabric  was  severe. 
Labor  in  the  making  and  distribution  of  the 
uniforms  could  be  saved  only  by  using  the  best 
materials  available. 

For  the  civilians  it  became  necessary  to  wear 
shoddy.  And  to  obtain  shoddy  every  scrap  must 
be  saved.  The  time  came  when  an  old  all-wool 
suit  brought  second-hand  as  good  a  price  as  a 
new  suit  fresh  from  the  mill  and  the  tailor  shop. 
With  the  addition  of  a  little  new  fiber  that  old 
suit  might  make  two  new  ones.  The  old  ma- 
terial was  "combed"  into  wool  again,  and  to 
this  was  added  some  new  wool,  cotton,  or  silk, 
and  "new"  goods  appeared  again  on  the  counter. 

The  "I-cash"  never  had  done  such  business 
before.  The  attics  and  cellars  were  ransacked, 
and  since  those  who  had  most  old  clothing  to 
sell  bought  hardly  any  at  all  now,  the  pinch  of 

12  165 


THE    IRON   RATION 

the  war  in  clothing  was  really  never  felt  very 
much  by  the  poor.  To  prevent  the  spread  of 
contagious  diseases  the  several  governments  saw 
to  it  that  the  shoddy  was  thoroughly  sterilized. 

But  economies  of  that  sort  are  more  or  less 
automatic  and  lie  within  the  realm  of  supply  and 
demand.  Unchecked,  they  may  also  become 
the  cause  of  economic  waste.  The  time  comes 
when  shoddy  is  an  absolute  loss.  When  fibers 
are  used  over  and  over,  together  with  new  ele- 
ments, the  oldest  of  them  finally  cease  to  have 
value.  That  means  that  the  fabric  does  not 
have  the  wearing  qualities  which  will  give  eco- 
nomic compensation  for  the  labor  spent  on  it 
and  the  price  asked  from  the  consumer.  The 
stuff  may  be  good  to  look  upon,  but  in  times  of 
war  that  is  not  essential. 

The  profiteer  found  a  fine  field  in  the  manu- 
facture of  shoddy.  All  first-hand  shoddy  he 
would  sell  as  new  material,  and  before  he  ad- 
mitted that  a  certain  piece  of  cloth  was  "in- 
different" in  quality,  it  had  to  be  poor  indeed. 
He  would  ask  a  good  price  for  a  suit  that  might 
fall  to  pieces  in  the  first  rain,  and  the  consumer 
was  left  to  do  the  best  he  could  with  the  thing. 
When  the  consumer  complained  he  would  be 
told  that  the  "war"  was  responsible,  and  the 
consumer,  knowing  in  a  general  and  superficial 
manner  that  things  were  indeed  scarce,  would 
decide  to  be  reasonable. 

But  the  government  could  not  take  that  easy 
view.  Labor  which  might  have  been  put  to 
better  use  had  been  expended  in  the  making  of 

166 


THE    CRUMBS 

that  shoddy,  and  now  the  fabric  served  no  good 
purpose.  That  had  to  be  avoided.  It  was  far 
better  to  abandon  fiber  of  this  sort  than  to 
have  it  become  the  cause  of  waste  in  labor  and 
the  reason  for  further  discontent.  Labor  that 
results  in  nothing  more  than  this  is  non-pro- 
ductive, and  the  governments  of  Central  Eu- 
rope knew  only  too  well  that  they  had  no  hands 
to  spare  for  that  kind  of  unavailing  effort. 

I  ran  into  a  case  of  this  sort  in  Bohemia.  A 
large  mill  had  turned  out  a  great  deal  of  very 
poor  shoddy.  The  cloth  looked  well,  and,  since 
wool  fiber  newly  dyed  makes  a  good  appear- 
ance even  long  after  its  wearing  qualities  have 
departed  forever,  the  firm  was  doing  a  land- 
office  business.  All  went  well  until  some  of 
the  fine  cloth  got  on  the  backs  of  people.  Then 
trouble  came.  Some  of  the  suits  shrank  when 
wet,  while  others  did  the  very  opposite.  The 
matter  came  to  the  attention  of  the  authorities. 

Experts  in  textiles  examined  the  cloth.  Some 
of  the  output  was  found  to  contain  as  much  as 
60  per  cent,  old  fiber,  and  there  was  no  telling 
how  many  times  this  old  fiber  had  been  made 
over.  It  was  finally  shown  that,  had  the  manu- 
facturer been  content  with  a  little  less  profit,  he 
could  have  converted  the  new  fiber — which,  by 
the  way,  he  had  obtained  from  the  government 
Fiber  Central — into  some  thirty  thousand  yards 
of  first-class  shoddy  under  a  formula  that  called 
for  65  per  cent,  new  fiber  and  35  per  cent.  old. 
As  it  was,  he  had  turned  the  good  raw  material 
into  nearly  fifty-two  thousand  yards  of  fabrics 

167 


THE   IRON   RATION 

that  were  not  worth  anything  and  he  had  wasted 
the  labor  of  hundreds  of  men  and  women  be- 
sides. 

The  man  had  been  trying  to  make  use  of 
crumbs  and  scraps  for  his  own  benefit.  Personal 
interests  had  led,  in  this  instance,  to  an  attempt 
to  convert  an  economic  negative  into  a  positive. 
The  useless  fiber  was  a  minus  which  no  effort 
in  plus  could  cause  to  have  any  other  value 
than  that  which  this  profit-hunter  saw  in  it. 
By  the  rational  economist  the  shoddy  had  been 
abandoned,  and  all  effort  to  overcome  the  statics 
of  true  economy,  as  here  represented  by  the  un- 
serviceableness  of  the  fiber  for  the  use  to  which 
it  had  been  assigned,  was  bound  to  be  an  eco- 
nomic waste. 

Cases  such  as  these — and  there  were  thousands 
of  them — showed  the  authorities  that  there  was 
danger  even  in  economy.  The  crumbs  and 
scraps  themselves  were  useless  in  the  end.  Be- 
yond a  certain  point  all  use  of  them  resulted 
in  losses,  and  that  point  was  the  minimum  of 
utility  that  could  be  obtained  with  a  maximum 
of  effort.  The  economic  structure  could  not 
stand  on  so  poor  a  sand  foundation. 

But  the  several  governments  were  largely  re- 
sponsible for  this.  They  had  regulated  so  much 
in  behalf  of  economy  that  they  had  virtually 
given  the  economic  shark  carte  blanche. 

There  was  a  season  when  I  attended  a  good 
many  trials  of  men  who  had  run  afoul  of  the  law 
in  this  manner.  They  all  had  the  same  excuse. 
Nothing  had  been  further  from  their  minds  than 

168 


THE    CRUMBS 

to  make  in  times  such  as  these  excessive  profits. 
They  would  not  think  of  such  .a  thing.  If  they 
had  used  poor  materials  in  the  things  they  manu- 
factured, it  was  due  entirely  to  their  desire  to 
stretch  the  country's  resources.  In  doing  that 
they  had  hoped  to  lighten  the  burden  of  the 
government.  Conservation  had  become  neces- 
sary and  everybody  would  have  to  help  in  that. 
They  had  been  willing  to  do  their  bit,  and  now 
the  authorities  were  unreasonable  enough  to  find 
fault  with  this  policy. 

At  first  many  a  judge  had  the  wool  pulled  over 
his  eyes  in  that  manner.  But  in  the  end  the 
scheme  worked  no  longer.  Usually  the  limit  of 
punishment  fell  on  the  offender. 

Abuses  of  this  sort  had  much  to  do  with  an 
improvement  in  conservation  methods.  So  far  as 
the  textile  industry  was  concerned  it  led  to  the 
control  by  the  government  Raw-Material  Cen- 
trals, which  were  established  rather  loosely  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  of  all  fibers.  The  ragman 
thereafter  turned  over  his  wares  to  these  cen- 
trals, and  when  a  spinner  wanted  material  he  had 
to  state  what  he  wanted  it  for  and  was  then 
given  the  necessary  quantities  in  proportions. 
That  helped,  and  when  the  government  took  a 
better  interest  in  the  goods  manufactured  this 
avenue  of  economic  waste  was  closed  effectively. 
With  these  measures  came  the  clothing  cards  for 
the  public.  After  that  all  seemed  well.  The 
poorer  qualities  of  cloth  disappeared  from  the 
market  overnight,  and  a  suit  of  clothing  was  now 
sure  to  give  fair  value  for  the  price. 

169 


THE   IRON   RATION 

I  have  made  use  of  this  example  to  illustrate 
what  the  factors  in  regulation  and  conservation 
were  at  times,  and  how  difficult  it  was  to  un- 
scramble the  economic  omelet  which  the  first 
conservation  policies  had  dished  up. 

There  were  other  crumbs  and  scraps,  however. 
Not  the  least  of  them  was  the  socio-economic 
organism  itself.  That  sensitive  thing  had  been 
doctored  so  much  that  only  a  major  operation 
could  again  put  it  on  its  feet.  Economy  fad- 
dists and  military  horse-doctors  alike  had  tried 
their  hands  on  the  patient,  and  all  of  them  had 
overlooked  that  the  only  thing  there  was  wrong 
with  the  case  was  malnutrition.  Everybody  was 
trying  to  get  the  usual  quantities  and  qualities  of 
milk  from  a  cow  that  was  starving.  Poor  Bossy ! 

Man  lives  not  by  food  alone;  nor  does  society. 
It  takes  a  whole  lot  of  things  to  run  a  state. 
While  the  government  had  already  in  its  grasp 
all  the  distribution  and  consumption  of  food, 
there  were  many  things  it  did  not  care  to  interfere 
with,  even  if  they  were  almost  as  important  as 
food.  These  things  were  the  products  of  in- 
dustry, rather  than  the  fruits  of  the  fields,  though 
usually,  as  is  natural,  it  was  difficult  to  draw  a 
strong  line  of  demarcation  in  the  division  of 
spheres.  In  social  economy  that  has  always 
been  so.  To  get  the  true  perspective,  take  a 
dozen  pebbles,  label  them  food,  fuel,  clothing,  and 
whatever  else  occurs  to  you,  and  then  throw  the 
pebbles  in  the  pond.  You  will  find  that  the  circu- 
lar wavelets  caused  by  the  pebbles  will  soon  run 
into  and  across  one  another,  and  if  by  chance  you 

170 


THE    CRUMBS 

have  followed  the  waves  of  food  you  will  notice 
that  while  they  have  been  broken  by  the  impact 
of  the  others  they  still  remain  discernible. 

Into  the  rippling  pond  the  several  governments 
had  each  thrown  the  cobblestones  of  regulation. 
The  food,  fuel,  and  clothing  ripples  were  still 
there,  of  course,  but  they  had  been  so  obliterated 
that  it  was  now  difficult  to  trace  them  on  the 
regulation  waves. 

But  the  waves,  too,  subsided,  and  on  the  back- 
wash of  them  the  authorities  read  lessons  which 
suggested  saner  methods — methods  whose  con- 
ception and  application  were  attended  by  a 
better  regard  for  the  nature  of  the  operation, 
be  this  production,  distribution,  or  consumption. 

The  saving  of  crumbs  and  scraps  had  not  been 
without  its  value.  It  tended  to  make  men 
short-sighted,  however.  The  governments  of 
Central  Europe  wanted  to  limit  consumption  to 
the  absolutely  necessary,  but  overlooked  that 
their  modus  operandi  gave  cause  to  serious  losses. 
The  various  authorities  did  not  wish  to  inter- 
fere too  much  with  normal  currents  of  economic 
life.  That  was  well  enough  in  a  way,  but  had 
disastrous  consequences.  A  shortage  in  the 
necessities  of  life  was  the  great  fact  of  the  day. 
It  could  be  met  only  by  restricting  consumption. 
But  the  machinery  of  this  restriction  was  a 
haphazard  thing.  It  promoted  hoarding. 

There  have  been  those  who  have  condemned 
the  hoarder  in  the  roundest  of  terms.  I  am  not 
so  sure  that  he  deserves  all  of  the  anathemas  that 
have  been  hurled  at  him.  When  a  government 

171 


THE    IRON    RATION 

shouts  day  in  and 'day  out  that  the  worst  will 
come  to  pass  if  everybody  does  not  save  the 
crumbs,  the  more  easily  alarmed  are  bound  to 
think  only  of  themselves  and  of  their  own.  High 
prices  will  cease  to  be  a  deterrent,  for  the  reason 
that  war  brings  only  too  many  examples  of  the 
fact  that  only  food  and  not  money  will  sustain 
life.  To  act  in  accordance  with  this  may  be  a 
weakness,  but  it  is  also  along  the  lines  of  a  nat- 
ural condition,  if  self-preservation  be  indeed  the 
first  law  of  nature.  Soon  there  are  found  those 
who  promote  and  pamper  this  weakness  for  a 
profit.  Food  is  then  stored  away  by  the  ma- 
jority. Some  will  waste  much  of  it  in  over- 
consumption,  while  more  will  permit  the  food 
to  spoil  by  improper  storage  methods,  especially 
when  the  food  has  to  be  secreted  in  cellars  and 
attics,  wardrobes  and  drawers,  as  happens  when 
government  by  inspection  becomes  necessary. 
But  of  this  I  have  spoken  already  in  its  proper 
place. 


XI 

MOBILIZING   THE   PENNIES 

FOOD-REGULATORS  will  be  wroth,  I  sup- 
pose, if  I  should  state  that  the  consump- 
tion of  life's  necessities  can  be  regulated  and 
diminished  for  its  own  sake,  and  that  high 
prices  are  not  necessarily  the  only  way  of  doing 
this.  At  the  same  time  I  must  admit  that  prices 
are  bound  to  rise  when  demand  exceeds  supply. 
In  our  system  of  economy  that  is  a  natural 
order  of  affairs.  But  this  tendency,  when  not 
interfered  with,  would  also  result  in  a  quick 
and  adequate  betterment  in  wages.  In  Central 
Europe,  however,  the  cost  of  living  was  always 
about  50  per  cent,  ahead  of  the  slow  increase 
in  earnings.  That  50  per  cent,  was  the  in- 
crement which  the  government  and  its  economic 
minions  needed  to  Jkeep  the  war  going.  What 
regulation  of  prices  there  was  kept  this  in  mind 
always.  In  order  that  every  penny  in  the 
realm  might  be  mobilized  and  then  kept  pro- 
ducing, no  change  in  these  tactics  could  be  per- 
mitted. 

The  food  shark  and  price-boosting  middleman 
were  essential  in  this  scheme,  and  when  these 

173 


THE    IRON    RATION 

were  dropped  by  the  government,  one  by  one, 
it  was  nothing  but  a  case  of: 

The  Moor  has  done  his  duty,  the  Moor  can  go. 

Elimination  of  the  middleman  worked  upward, 
much  as  does  a  disease  that  has  its  bed  in  the 
slums.  When  the  consumer  had  been  subjected 
to  the  limit  of  pressure,  the  retailer  felt  the 
heavy  hand  of  the  government.  It  got  to  be 
the  turn  of  the  wholesaler  and  commission-man, 
and  in  October  of  1916,  the  period  of  which  I 
speak  here,  only  the  industrial  and  commercial 
kings  and  the  banking  monarchs  were  still  in 
favor  with  the  government.  The  speculators 
then  operating  were  either  the  agents  of  these 
powers  or  closely  affiliated  with  them. 

In  the  fall  of  1916  the  war  system  of  national 
economy  had  taken  the  shape  it  has  to-day. 
Food  had  become  the  irreducible  minimum. 
Not  alone  was  the  quantity  on  hand  barely 
sufficient  to  feed  the  population,  but  its  price 
could  no  longer  be  increased  if  the  masses  were 
not  to  starve  for  lack  of  money  instead  of  lack 
of  food.  The  daily  bread  was  now  a  luxury. 
Men  and  women  had  to  rise  betimes  and  work 
late  into  the  night  if  they  wanted  to  eat  at  all. 

Let  me  now  speak  of  the  sort  of  revision  of 
economic  regulations  that  was  in  vogue  before 
the  adoption  of  the  new  system. 
.  That  revision  started  with  the  farmer — the 
producer  of  food.  Some  requisitioning  had  been 
done  on  the  farms  for  strictly  military  purposes. 

174 


MOBILIZING    THE    PENNIES 

Horses  and  meat  animals  had  been  taken  from  the 
farmer  for  cash  at  the  minimum  prices  established 
by  the  authorities.  Forage  and  grain  for  the 
army  had  been  commandeered  in  a  like  manner, 
and  in  a  few  cases  wagons,  plows,  and  other  im- 
plements. Further  than  that  (taking  into  ac- 
count the  minimum  prices,  which  were  in  favor 
of  the  farmer  and  intended  to  stimulate  produc- 
tion), the  government  had  not  actually  interfered 
with  the  tiller  of  the  soil.  He  had  gone  on  as 
before,  so  far  as  a  shortage  of  labor,  draft  ani- 
mals, and  fertilizers  permitted.  He  had  not 
prospered,  of  course,  but  on  the  whole  he  was 
better  off  than  the  urbanite  and  industrial 
worker,  for  the  reason  that  he  could  still  con- 
sume of  his  food  as  much  as  he  liked.  The 
government  had,  indeed,  prescribed  what  per- 
centage of  his  produce  he  was  to  turn  over  to  the 
public,  but  often  that  interference  went  no  further. 

But  in  the  growing  and  crop  season  of  1916 
the  several  governments  went  on  a  new  tack. 
Trained  agriculturists,  employees  of  the  Food 
Commissions  and  Centrals,  looked  over  the  crops 
and  estimated  what  the  yield  would  be.  From 
the  total  was  then  subtracted  what  the  establish- 
ment of  the  farmer  would  need,  and  the  rest  had 
to  be  turned  over  to  the  Food  Centrals  at  fixed 
dates. 

The  farmers  did  not  take  kindly  to  this.  But 
there  was  no  help.  Failure  to  comply  with 
orders  meant  a  heavy  fine,  and  hiding  of  food 
brought  similar  punishment  and  imprisonment 
besides. 

175 


THE    IRON    RATION 

With  this  done,  the  food  authorities  began  to 
clear  up  a  little  more  in  the  channels  of  distribu- 
tion. The  cereals  were  checked  into  the  mills 
more  carefully,  and  the  smaller  water-mills,  which 
had  in  the  past  charged  for  their  labor  by  retain- 
ing the  bran  and  a  little  flour,  were  put  on  a  cash 
basis.  For  every  hundred  pounds  of  grain  they 
had  to  produce  so  many  pounds  of  flour,  together 
with  by-products  when  these  latter  were  allowed. 

The  flour  was  then  shipped  to  a  Food  Central, 
and  this  would  later  issue  it  to  the  bakers,  who 
had  to  turn  out  a  fixed  number  of  loaves.  To 
each  bakery  had  been  assigned  so  many  con- 
sumers, and  the  baker  was  now  responsible  that 
these  got  the  bread  which  the  law  prescribed. 

Potatoes  and  other  foods  were  handled  in  much 
the  same  manner.  The  farmer  had  to  deliver 
them  to  the  Food  Central  in  given  quantities  at 
fixed  dates,  and  the  Central  turned  them  over  to 
the  retailers  for  sale  to  the  public  in  prescribed 
allotments.  Now  and  then  small  quantities  of 
"unrestricted"  potatoes  would  get  to  the  con- 
sumer through  the  municipal  markets.  But 
people  had  to  rise  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning 
to  get  them.  This  meant,  of  course,  that  only 
those  willing  to  lose  hours  of  needed  sleep  for 
the  sake  of  a  little  extra  food  got  any  of  these 
potatoes. 

The  ways  of  the  efficient  food-regulator  are 
dark  and  devious  but  positive  in  their  aim. 

The  meat-supply  was  not  further  modified. 
The  meatless  days  and  exorbitant  prices  had 
made  further  regulation  in  that  department  un- 

176 


MOBILIZING   THE    PENNIES 

necessary.  Milk  and  fat,  however,  as  well  as 
eggs,  were  made  the  subject  of  further  attention 
by  the  Food  Commissions.  All  three  of  them 
were  as  essential  to  the  masses  as  was  bread,  and 
for  that  reason  they  passed  within  the  domain 
of  the  food  zone — Rayon. 

In  their  case,  however,  the  authorities  left  the 
supply  uncontrolled.  The  farmer  sold  to  the 
Food  Central  what  milk,  butter,  lard,  suet,  tal- 
low, vegetable-oil,  and  eggs  he  produced,  and  the 
Central  passed  them  on  to  the  retailers,  who  had 
to  distribute  them  to  a  given  number  of  con- 
sumers. The  same  was  done  in  the  case  of 
sugar. 

Such  a  scheme  left  many  middlemen  high  and 
dry.  Those  who  could  not  be  of  some  service  in 
the  new  system,  or  found  it  not  worth  while  to 
be  connected  with  it,  took  to  other  lines  of 
industry. 

The  government  had  left  a  few  such  lines  open. 
That,  however,  was  not  done  in  the  interest  of 
the  middlemen.  The  better-paid  working  classes 
still  had  pennies  that  had  to  be  garnered,  and 
these  pennies,  now  that  food  was  surrounded  by 
cast-iron  regulations  and  laws,  went  into  the 
many  other  channels  of  trade. 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  man  who  in  the 
past  had  bought  and  sold  on  commission  almost 
anything  under  the  heading  of  food.  Now  it 
would  be  a  car-load  of  flour,  then  several  car- 
loads of  potatoes,  and  when  business  in  these 
lines  was  poor  he  would  do  a  legal  or  illicit  busi- 
ness in  butter  and  eggs.  Petroleum  was  a  side 

177 


THE    IRON   RATION 

line  of  his,  and  once  he  made  a  contract  with  the 
government  for  remounts.  I  don't  think  there 
was  anything  the  man  had  not  dealt  in.  But 
the  same  can  be  said  of  every  one  of  the  thou- 
sands that  used  to  do  business  in  the  quiet  cor- 
ners of  the  Berlin  and  Vienna  cafes. 

I  should  mention  here  that  the  Central  Euro- 
pean commission-man  does  not  generally  hold 
forth  in  an  office.  The  cafe"  is  his  place  of  busi- 
ness— not  a  bad  idea,  since  those  with  whom  he 
trades  do  the  same.  There  are  certain  cafe's  in 
Vienna,  Berlin,  and  Budapest,  and  the  other 
cities,  that  exist  almost  for  that  purpose.  In 
any  three  of  them  one  can  buy  and  sell  anything 
from  a  paper  of  pins  to  a  stack  of  hay. 

My  acquaintance  found  that  the  new  order  of 
things  in  the  food  department  left  him  nothing 
but  the  pleasant  memory  of  the  "wad"  he  had 
made  under  the  old  regime.  He  took  to  matches. 

Matches  were  uncontrolled  and  rather  scarce. 
Soon  he  had  a  corner  in  matches.  He  made 
contracts  with  the  factories  at  a  price  he  could 
not  have  paid  without  a  large  increase  in  the 
selling  price  of  the  article.  But  he  knew  how 
to  bring  that  condition  about. 

Before  long  the  price  of  matches  went  up. 
They  had  been  selling  at  about  one-quarter 
cent  American  for  a  box  of  two  hundred.  The 
fancier  article  sold  for  a  little  more. 

When  the  price  was  one  cent  a  box,  my  ac- 
quaintance began  to  unload  judiciously.  Mer- 
chants did  not  want  to  be  without  matches  again, 
and  bought  with  a  will.  The  speculator  cleared 

178 


MOBILIZING    THE    PENNIES 

one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  crowns  on 
his  first  release,  I  was  told.  His  average  monthly 
profit  after  that  was  something  like  forty  thou- 
sand crowns. 

Somehow  he  managed  to  escape  prosecution 
under  the  anti-high-profit  decree  then  in  force. 
No  doubt  that  was  due  to  his  connections 
with  the  Vienna  Bank  Food  Ring.  At  any  rate, 
his  name  appeared  as  one  of  the  large  subscribers 
to  the  fifth  Austrian  war  loan,  and,  needless  to 
say,  he  paid  his  share  of  the  war-profit  tax. 

In  this  case  fractions  of  pennies  were  mobilized. 
I  suppose  almost  anybody  who  can  afford  fuel 
can  afford  to  light  a  fire  with  a  match  that  costs 
the  two-hundredth  part  of  a  cent.  No  doubt 
the  government  thought  so.  Why  not  relieve 
the  population  of  that  little  accumulation  of 
economic  "fat"? 

Another  genius  of  that  sort  managed  to  get 
a  corner  in  candles.  How  he  managed  to  get 
his  stock  has  never  been  clear  to  me,  since  the 
food  authorities  had  long  ago  put  a  ban  on  the 
manufacture  of  candles.  I  understand  that 
some  animal  fats,  suet  and  tallow,  are  needed  to 
make  the  paraffin  "stand"  up.  Those  animal 
fats  were  needed  by  the  population  in  the  form 
of  food. 

But  the  corner  in  candles  was  unfait  accompli. 
The  man  was  far-sighted.  He  held  his  wares 
until  the  government  ordered  lights  out  in  the 
houses  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  these  candles  were 
then  welcome  at  any  price,  especially  in  such 
houses  where  the  janitor  would  at  the  stroke  of 

179 


THE    IRON    RATION 

the  hour  throw  off  the  trunk  switch  in  the 
cellar. 

Here  was  another  chance  to  get  pennies  from 
the  many  who  could  afford  to  buy  a  candle  once 
or  twice  a  week.  The  government  had  no  reason 
to  interfere.  Those  pennies,  left  in  the  pockets 
of  the  populace,  would  have  never  formed  part 
of  a  war  loan  or  war-profit  taxes. 

Sewing-thread  was  the  subject  of  another 
corner.  In  fact,  all  the  little  things  people 
must  have  passed  one  by  one  into  the  control  of 
some  speculator. 

Gentle  criticism  of  that  method  of  mulcting 
the  public  was  made  in  the  press  that  depended 
more  than  ever  on  advertising.  But  that  fell  on 
deaf  ears.  And  usually  a  man  had  not  to  be 
a  deep  thinker  to  realize  that  the  government 
must  permit  that  sort  of  thing  in  order  to  find 
money  for^  the  prosecution  of  the  war  and  the 
administration  of  the  state.  To  serious  com- 
plaint, the  government  would  reply  that  it  had 
done  enough  by  regulating  the  food,  and  that 
further  regulation  would  break  down  the  eco- 
nomic machine.  That  was  true,  of  course.  To 
take  another  step  was  to  fall  into  the  arms  of 
the  Social  Democrats,  and  that  responsibility 
nobody  expected  the  government  to  take. 

The  attitude  of  the  public  toward  the  govern- 
mentally  decreed  system  of  social  economy  is 
not  the  least  interesting  feature  of  it. 

The  authorities  took  good  care  to  accompany 
every  new  regulation  with  the  explanation  that 
it  had  to  be  taken  in  the  interest  of  the  state 

180 


MOBILIZING    THE    PENNIES 

and  the  armies  in  the  field.  If  too  much  food  was 
consumed  in  the  interior,  the  men  in  the  trenches 
would  go  hungry.  That  was  a  good  argument, 
of  course.  Almost  every  family  had  some  mem- 
ber of  it  in  the  army;  that  food  was  indeed 
scarce  was  known,  and  not  to  be  content  with 
what  was  issued  was  folly  in  the  individual — 
at  one  time  it  was  treason.  As  an  antidote 
against  resentment  at  high  prices,  the  gov- 
ernment had  provided  the  minimum-maximum 
price  schedules,  and  occasionally  some  retailer 
or  wholesaler  was  promptly  dealt  with  by  the 
court,  whose  president  was  then  more  interested 
in  fining  the  man  than  in  putting  him  in  jail. 
The  government  needed  the  money  and  was  not 
anxious  to  feed  prisoners.  If  some  favorite  was 
hit  by  this,  the  authorities  had  the  convenient 
excuse  that  it  was  "war." 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  attitude  of  the 
several  governments  could  have  been  different. 
The  authorities  of  a  state  have  no  other  power, 
strength,  and  resources  than  what  the  com- 
munity places  at  their  disposal  wittingly  or  un- 
wittingly. The  war  was  here  and  had  to  be 
prosecuted  in  the  best  manner  possible,  and  the 
operations  incident  to  the  struggle  were  so 
gigantic  that  every  penny  and  fraction  thereof 
had  to  be  mobilized.  There  was  no  way  out 
of  this  so  long  as  the  enemy  was  to  be  met  and 
opposed.  Even  the  more  conservative  faction 
of  the  Social  Democrats  realized  that,  and  for 
the  time  being  the  "internationalist"  socialists 

had  no  argument  they  could  advance  against 
13  isi 


THE    IRON    RATION 

this,  since  elsewhere  the  "internationalists"  had 
also  taken  to  cover.  The  Liberals  everywhere 
could  demand  fair  treatment  of  the  masses,  but 
that  they  had  been  given  by  the  government 
to  the  fullest  extent  possible  under  the  circum- 
stances. The  exploitation  of  the  public  was 
general  and  no  longer  confined  to  any  class, 
though  it  did  not  operate  in  all  cases  with  the 
same  rigor. 

To  have  the  laws  hit  all  alike  would  have 
meant  embracing  the  very  theories  of  Karl  Marx 
and  his  followers.  Apart  from  the  fact  that 
the  middle  and  upper  classes  were  violently  op- 
posed to  this,  there  was  the  question  whether 
it  would  have  been  possible  in  that  case  to  con- 
tinue the  war.  The  German,  German-Austrian, 
and  Hungarian  public,  however,  wanted  the  war 
continued,  even  when  the  belt  had  been  tightened 
to  the  last  hole.  What,  under  these  circumstances, 
could  be  done  by  the  several  governments  but 
extract  from  their  respective  people  the  very  last 
cent?  Discussion  of  the  policy  was  similar  to  a 
cat  chasing  its  tail. 

We  may  say  the  same  of  the  motive  actuating 
the  authorities  when  in  the  fall  of  1916  they 
established  municipal  meat  markets  where  meat 
could  be  obtained  by  the  poor  at  cost  price  and 
often  below  that.  Whether  that  was  done  to 
alleviate  hunger  or  keep  the  producer  in  good 
trim  is  a  question  which  each  must  answer  for 
himself.  It  all  depends  on  the  attitude  one  takes. 
The  meat  was  sold  by  the  municipality  or  the 
Food  Commission  direct,  at  prices  from  15  to 

182 


MOBILIZING   THE    PENNIES 

25  per  cent,  below  the  day's  quotation,  and  was 
a  veritable  godsend  to  the  poor.  Whether  the 
difference  in  price  represented  humaneness  on  the 
part  of  the  authorities  or  design  would  be  hard  to 
prove.  Those  I  questioned  invariably  claimed 
that  it  was  a  kind  interest  in  the  masses  which 
caused  the  government  to  help  them  in  that 
manner.  Had  I  been  willing  to  do  so  I  could 
have  shown,  of  course,  that  the  money  spent  in 
this  sort  of  charity  had  originally  been  in  the 
pockets  of  those  who  bought  the  cheaper  meat. 

But  that  is  a  chronic  ailment  of  social  economy, 
and  I  am  not  idealist  enough  to  say  how  this  ail- 
ment could  be  cured.  In  fact,  I  cannot  see  how 
it  can  be  cured  if  society  is  not  to  sink  into  inertia, 
seeing  that  the  scramble  for  a  living  is  to  most 
the  only  leaven  that  will  count.  That  does  not 
mean,  however,  that  I  believe  in  the  maxim, 
"The  devil  take  the  hindmost" — a  maxim  which 
governed  the  distribution  of  life's  necessities  in 
Central  Europe  during  the  first  two  years  of  the 
war. 

The  zonification  of  the  bread,  milk,  fats,  and 
sugar  supply,  and  the  municipal  meat  markets 
began  to  show  that  either  the  government  had 
come  to  fear  the  public  or  was  now  willing  to  co- 
operate with  it  more  closely  than  it  had  done  in 
the  past.  At  any  rate,  this  new  and  better 
policy  had  a  distinctly  humane  aspect.  Some  of 
the  food-lines  disappeared,  and  with  them  de- 
parted much  of  that  brutality  which  food  control 
by  the  government  had  been  associated  with  in 
the  past.  The  food  allowance  was  scant  enough, 

183 


THE    IRON    RATION 

but  a  good  part  of  it  was  now  assured.  It  could 
be  claimed  at  any  time  of  the  day,  and  that  very 
fact  revived  in  many  the  self-respect  which  had 
suffered  greatly  by  the  eternal  begging  for  food 
in  the  lines. 

Having  made  a  study  of  the  psychology  of  the 
food-liner,  I  can  realize  what  that  meant.  Of  a 
sudden  food  riots  ceased,  and  with  them  passed 
all  danger  of  a  revolution.  I  am  convinced  that 
in  the  winter  of  1915-16  it  was  easier  to  start 
internal  trouble  in  the  Central  states  than  it  was 
a  year  later.  A  more  or  less  impartial  and  fairly 
efficient  system  of  food  distribution  had  induced 
the  majority  to  look  at  the  shortage  in  eatables 
as  something  for  which  the  government  was  not  to 
blame.  That,  after  all,  was  what  the  govern- 
ment wanted.  Whether  or  no  it  worked  con- 
sciously toward  that  end  I  am  not  prepared  to 
say. 

By  that  time,  also,  the  insufferable  small 
official  had  been  curbed  to  quite  an  extent.  As 
times  grew  harder,  and  the  small  increases  in  pay 
failed  more  and  more  to  keep  pace  with  the  in- 
crease in  the  cost  of  living,  that  class  became 
more  and  more  impossible.  Toward  its  superiors 
it  showed  more  obsequiousness  than  before,  be- 
cause removal  from  office  meant  a  stay  at  the 
front,  and  since  things  in  life  have  the  habit  of  bal- 
ancing one  another,  the  class  became  more  rude  and 
oppressive  toward  the  public.  Finally  the  gov- 
ernment caused  the  small  official  to  understand 
that  this  could  not  go  on.  He  also  learned  in  a 
small  degree  that  bureaucratism  is  not  necessarily 

184 


MOBILIZING    THE    PENNIES 

the  only  purpose  of  the  officeholder,  though 
much  progress  in  that  direction  was  yet  necessary. 

It  has  often  been  my  impression  that  govern- 
ment in  Central  Europe  would  be  good  if  it  were 
possible  to  put  out  of  their  misery  the  small 
officials — the  element  which  snarls  at  the  civilian 
when  there  is  no  occasion  for  it.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  worst  which  the  extremists  in  the 
Entente  group  have  planned  for  the  Central 
Powers  is  still  too  good  for  the  martinet  who 
holds  forth  in  the  Central  European  Amtsstube — 
i.  <?.,  government  office.  Law  and  order  has  no 
greater  admirer  than  myself,  but  I  resent  having 
some  former  corporal  take  it  for  granted  that  I 
had  never  heard  of  such  things  until  he  happened 
along.  Yet  that  is  precisely  what  this  class  does. 
It  has  alienated  hundreds  of  thousands  of  friends 
of  the  German  people.  It  has  stifled  the  social 
enlightenment  and  political  liberty  which  was  so 
strong  in  Central  Europe  in  the  first  four  decades 
of  the  nineteenth  century. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  what  that  class 
did  to  a  population  which  had  been  reduced  to 
subsisting  at  the  public  crib.  The  bread  ticket 
was  handed  the  applicant  with  a  sort  of  by-the- 
grace-of-God  mien,  when  rude  words  did  not 
accompany  it.  The  slightest  contravention 
brought  a  flood  of  verbal  abuse.  Pilate  never 
was  so  sure  that  he  alone  was  right.  Between 
this  official  insolence,  food  shortage,  and  exploi- 
tation by  the  government  and  its  economic  min- 
ions, the  Central  European  civilian  had  a  merry 
time  of  it. 

185 


THE    IRON    RATION 

But,  after  all,  no  people  has  a  better  govern- 
ment than  it  deserves,  just  as  it  has  no  more 
food  than  it  produces  or  is  able  to  secure.  The 
martinets  did  not  mend  their  ways  until  women 
in  the  food-lines  had  clawed  their  faces  and  an 
overwhelming  avalanche  of  complaints  began  to 
impress  the  higher  officials.  Conditions  im- 
proved rapidly  after  that  and  stayed  improved 
so  long  as  the  public  was  heard  from.  It  may 
not  be  entirely  coincidence  that  acceptable  offi- 
cial manners  and  better  distribution  of  food  came 
at  the  same  time.  In  that  lies  the  promise  that 
the  days  of  the  autocratic  small  official  in  Cen- 
tral Europe  are  numbered. 

It  was  futile,  however,  to  look  for  a  general 
or  deep-seated  resentment  against  the  govern- 
ment itself.  Certain  officials  were  hated.  Be- 
fore the  war  that  would  have  made  little  differ- 
ence to  the  bureaucratic  clans,  and  even  now 
they  were  often  reluctant  to  sacrifice  one  of 
their  ilk,  but  there  was  no  longer  any  help  for 
it.  There  was  never  a  time  when  a  change 
in  the  principle  of  government  was  considered 
as  the  means  to  effect  a  bettering  of  conditions. 
The  Central  European  prefers  monarchical  to 
republican  government.  He  is  not  inclined  to 
do  homage  to  a  ruler  who  is  a  commoner — a 
tribute  he  still  pays  his  government  and  its  head. 

In  the  monarchy  the  ruler  occupies  a  position 
which  the  average  republican  cannot  easily 
understand.  In  the  constitutional  monarchy, 
having  a  responsible  ministry,  the  king  is  gen- 
erally little  better  than  what  is  known  as  a 

186 


MOBILIZING    THE    PENNIES 

figurehead.  He  is  hardly  ever  heard  from,  and 
when  he  is  the  cause  of  his  appearance  in  the 
spotlight  may  be  some  act  that  has  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  government  itself.  He  may 
open  some  hospital  or  attend  a  maneuver  or  re- 
view of  the  fleet,  or  convene  parliament  with  a 
speech  prepared  by  the  premier,  and  there  his 
usefulness  ends — seemingly.  But  that  is  not 
quite  so.  In  such  a  realm  the  monarch  stands 
entirely  for  that  continuation  of  policy  and 
principle  which  is  necessary  for  the  guidance 
of  the  state.  He  becomes  the  living  embodiment 
of  the  constitution,  as  it  were.  He  is  the  non- 
political  guardian  thereof.  Political  parties  may 
come  and  go,  but  the  king  stays,  seeing  to  it, 
theoretically  at  least,  that  the  parliamentary 
majority  which  has  put  its  men  into  the  ministry 
does  not  violate  the  ground  laws  of  the  country. 
In  his  capacities  of  King  of  Prussia  and  Ger- 
man Emperor,  William  II.  has  been  more  abso- 
lute than  any  of  the  other  European  monarchs, 
the  Czar  of  Russia  alone  excepted.  The  two 
constitutions  under  which  he  rules,  the  Prussian 
and  the  German  federative,  give  him  a  great 
deal  of  room  in  which  to  elbow  around.  When 
a  Reichstag  proved  intractable  he  had  but 
to  dissolve  it,  and  in  the  Prussian  chambers  of 
Lords  and  Deputies  he  was  as  nearly  absolute 
as  any  man  could  be — provided  always  he  did 
what  was  agreeable  to  the  Junkers.  They  are 
a  strong-minded  crew  in  Prussia,  and  less  in- 
clined to  be  at  the  beck  and  call  of  their  king 
than  Germans  generally  are  in  the  case  of  their 

187 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Emperor.  In  Prussia  the  King  is  far  more  the 
servant  of  the  state  than  the  Kaiser  is  in  Ger- 
many. But  this  is  one  of  those  little  idiosyn- 
crasies in  government  that  can  be  found  any- 
where. 

Three  years  of  contact  with  all  classes  of 
Germans  have  yet  to  show  me  the  single  in- 
dividual, not  a  most  radical  socialist,  who  had 
anything  but  kind  words  for  the  King-Emperor 
and  his  family.  What  the  Kaiser  had  to  say 
went  through  the  multitude  like  an  electric 
impulse.  No  matter  how  uninteresting  I  might 
find  a  statement,  because  I  could  not  see  it 
from  the  angle  of  the  German,  the  public  always 
received  it  very  much  as  it  might  the  word  of  a 
prophet.  It  was  conceded  that  the  Emperor 
could  make  mistakes,  that,  indeed,  he  had  made 
not  a  few  of  them;  but  this  did  not  by  any 
means  lessen  the  degree  of  receptiveness  of  his 
subjects.  Against  the  word  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
all  argument  is  futile,  and  will  always  remain 
futile. 

It  was  this  sentiment  which  caused  the  Ger- 
man people  to  accept  with  wonderful  patience 
whatever  burden  the  war  brought.  Had  it  ever 
been  necessary  to  cast  into  the  government's 
war  treasury  the  last  pfennig,  the  mere  word 
from  the  Kaiser  would  have  accomplished  this. 
What  Napoleon  was  to  his  soldiers  Emperor 
William  II.  is  to  his  people. 

And  then  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the 
Emperor  possesses  marked  ability  as  a  press 
agent.  He  was  always  the  first  to  conform  to  a 

188 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

CASTLE   HOHENZOLLERN 

Ancestral  seat  of  the  Hohenzollern  dynasty.     The  men  and  women  in  the  foreground 
are  good  types  of  Germany's  peasantry. 


MOBILIZING    THE    PENNIES 

regulation  in  food.  Long  before  the  rich  classes 
had  so  much  as  a  thought  of  eating  war-bread, 
Emperor  William  would  tolerate  nothing  else  on 
his  table.  The  Empress,  too,  adhered  to  this. 
All  wheat  bread  was  banished  from  the  several 
palaces  of  the  imperial  menage.  Every  court 
function  was  abandoned,  save  coffee  visits  in  the 
afternoon  for  the  friends  of  the  Empress. 

I  saw  the  Emperor  a  good  many  times.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  war  he  was  rushed  past  me  in  the 
TJnter  den  Linden  in  Berlin.  The  crowds  were 
cheering  him.  He  seemed  supremely  happy,  as 
he  bowed  to  right  and  left  in  acknowledgment  of 
the  fealty  voiced.  Since  I  am  not  so  extraordi- 
narily gifted  as  some  claim  to  be,  I  could  not  say 
that  I  saw  anything  in  his  face  but  the  expression 
of  a  man  happy  to  see  that  his  people  stood  be- 
hind him. 

Later  I  saw  him  in  Vienna.  He  had  come  to 
the  capital  of  his  ally  to  view  for  the  last  time 
the  face  of  his  dead  comrade-in-arms,  the  late 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph.  He  stepped  out  of  the 
railroad  carriage  with  a  grave  face  and  hastened 
toward  the  young  Emperor  of  Austria  to  express 
his  condolences.  The  two  men  embraced  each 
other.  I  was  struck  by  the  apparent  sincerity  of 
the  greeting.  What  impressed  me  more,  per- 
haps, was  the  alacrity  of  the  older  man.  For 
several  minutes  the  two  monarchs  paced  up  and 
down  on  the  station  platform  and  conversed  on 
some  serious  subject.  I  noticed  especially  the 
quick  movements  of  the  German  Emperor's  head, 
and  the  smart  manner  in  which  he  faced  about 

189 


THE    IRON    RATION 

when  the  two  had  come  to  the  end  of  the  plat- 
form. 

The  streak  of  white  hair,  visible  between  ear 
and  helmet,  accentuated  in  his  face  that  ex- 
pression which  is  not  rare  in  old  army  officers, 
when  the  inroads  of  years  have  put  a  damper  on 
youthful  martial  enthusiasm.  The  man  was  still 
every  inch  a  soldier,  and  yet  his  face  reminded  me 
of  that  of  Sir  Henry  Irving,  despite  the  fact  that 
there  is  little  similarity  to  be  seen  when  pictures 
of  the  two  men  are  compared,  as  I  had  shortly 
afterward  opportunity  of  doing.  I  should  say 
that  in  civilian  clothing  I  would  take  the  Emperor 
for  a  retired  merchant-marine  captain,  in  whose 
house  I  would  expect  to  find  a  fairly  good  library 
indiscriminately  assembled  and  balanced  by  much 
bric-a-brac  collected  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
without  much  plan  or  design. 

Such  a  retired  sea-dog  would  be  a  very  human 
being,  I  take  it.  His  crews  might  have  ever 
stood  in  fear  of  him,  but  his  familiars  would  look 
upon  him  with  the  respect  that  is  brought  any 
man  who  knows  that  friendship's  best  promoter 
is  usually  a  judicious  degree  of  reserve. 

That  was  the  picture  I  gained  of  the  Emperor 
as  he  marched  up  and  down  the  station  platform 
in  a  Vienna  suburb.  The  same  afternoon  he  was 
taken  over  the  Ring  in  an  automobile.  There 
was  no  cheering  by  the  vast  throng  which  had 
assembled  to  see  the  mighty  War  Lord  from  the 
north.  The  old  emperor  was  dead.  The  houses 
were  draped  in  black.  Many  of  the  civilians 
had  donned  mourning.  To  the  hats  that  were 

190 


MOBILIZING    THE    PENNIES 

lifted,  Kaiser  William  bowed  with  a  face  that 
was  serious.  He  was  all  monarch — King  and 
Emperor. 

I  can  understand  why  a  man  of  the  type  of 
Czar  Nicholas  should  lose  his  throne  in  a  revolu- 
tion brought  on  by  the  shortage  of  food  and  the 
exploitation  incident  to  war.  How  a  similar  fate 
could  overtake  a  man  of  the  type  of  William  II. 
is  not  clear  to  me.  For  that  he  is  too  ready  to  act. 
His  adaptiveness  is  almost  proverbial  in  Ger- 
many. I  have  no  doubt  that  should  the  im- 
possible really  occur  in  Germany  becoming  a 
republic  William  II.  would  most  likely  show  up 
as  its  first  president. 

In  Germany  nothing  is  really  ever  popular — 
the  works  of  poets  excluded.  For  that  reason 
the  Emperor  is  not  popular  in  the  sense  in  which 
Edward  VII.  could  be  popular.  But  Emperor 
William  II.  is  a  fact  to  the  German,  just  as  life 
itself  is  that.  For  the  time  being  the  Emperor  is 
the  state  to  the  vast  majority,  and,  incongruous 
as  it  may  seem  at  a  time  when  conditions  in 
Germany  are  making  for  equipollence  between 
the  reactionary  and  the  progressive,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  no  throne  in  Europe  is  more  secure 
than  that  of  the  Hohenzollerns. 

To  understand  that  one  must  have  measured 
in  Germany  the  patience  and  determination  of 
those  who  bore  the  burden  of  the  war  as  imposed 
by  scant  rations  on  the  one  hand  and  ever- 
increasing  expenditures  in  warfare  on  the  other. 

Since  King  Alfonso  of  Spain  is  better  known 
than  the  German  crown-prince,  I  will  refer  to 

191 


THE    IRON    RATION 

him  as  the  ruler  whom  the  latter  resembles  most. 
The  two  men  are  of  about  the  same  build,  with 
the  difference  in  favor  of  the  crown-prince,  who 
is  possibly  a  little  taller  and  slightly  better 
looking  in  a  Teutonic  fashion.  Both  are  alike 
in  their  unmilitariness.  One  looks  as  little  the 
soldier  as  the  other,  despite  the  fact  that  the 
interested  publics  have  but  rarely  the  oppor- 
tunity to  see  these  men  in  mufti. 

After  all,  that  is  scant  reason  for  the  compari- 
son I  have  made.  The  better  reason  is  that  both 
are  alike  in  their  attitude  toward  the  public. 
Alfonso  is  no  more  democratic  than  Frederick, 
nor  would  he  be  more  interested  in  good  gov- 
ernment. 

To  my  friend  Karl  H.  von  Wiegand,  most 
prominent  of  American  correspondents  in  Berlin, 
the  German  crown-prince  said  on  one  occasion: 

"I  regret  that  not  more  people  will  talk  to  me 
in  the  manner  you  have  done.  I  appreciate 
frankness,  but  cannot  always  get  it.  The  people 
from  whom  I  expect  advice  and  information 
make  it  their  business  to  first  find  out  what  I 
might  expect  to  hear  and  then  talk  accordingly. 
It  is  very  disheartening,  but  what  can  I  do?" 

Those  who  remember  the  last  act  of  "Alt- 
Heidelberg"  will  best  understand  what  the  factors 
are  that  lead  to  this.  We  may  pity  the  mind 
that  looks  upon  another  human  being  as  some- 
thing infinitely  superior  because  accident  sud- 
denly places  him  in  a  position  of  great  power. 
I  am  not  so  sure  that  he  who  becomes  the  object 
of  that  sort  of  reverence  is  not  to  be  pitied  more. 

192 


MOBILIZING    THE    PENNIES 

Our  commiseration  is  especially  due  the  prince 
whom  the  frailties  of  human  flesh  cause  to  thus 
lose  all  contact  with  the  real  life  by  accepting 
ipso  facto  that  he  is  a  superior  being  because 
others  are  foolish  enough  to  embrace  such  a 
doctrine. 

A  very  interesting  story  is  told  in  that  con- 
nection of  Emperor  Charles  of  Austria.  As  heir- 
apparent  he  had  always  been  very  democratic. 
In  those  days  he  was  little  more  to  his  brother 
officers  than  a  comrade,  and  all  of  them,  acting 
agreeably  to  a  tradition  in  the  Austro-Hungarian 
army,  addressed  him  by  the  familiar  Du — thou. 

After  he  had  become  Emperor-King,  Charles 
had  occasion  to  visit  the  east  front,  spending 
some  time  with  the  Arz  army,  at  whose  head- 
quarters he  had  stayed  often  and  long  while  still 
crown-prince. 

The  young  Emperor  detected  a  chilling  reserve 
among  the  men  with  whom  he  had  formerly 
lived.  Some  of  his  comrades  addressed  him  as 
"Your  Majesty."  Charles  stood  this  for  a  while, 
and  then  turned  on  a  young  officer  with  whom  he 
had  been  on  very  friendly  terms. 

"I  suppose  you  must  say  majesty  now,  but  do 
me  the  favor  of  saying  'Du  Majestat.'  I  am  still 
in  the  army;  or  are  you  trying  to  rule  me  out  of 
it?" 

This  may  be  considered  a  fair  sample  of  the 
cement  that  has  been  keeping  the  Central  states 
from  falling  apart  under  the  stress  of  the  war. 
To  us  republicans  that  may  seem  absurd.  And 
still,  who  would  deny  that  the  memory  of 

193 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Lincoln  is  not  a  thing 
that  binds  together  much  of  what  is  American- 
ism? In  the  republic  the  great  men  of  the  past 
are  done  homage,  in  the  monarchy  the  important 
man  of  the  hour  is  the  thing.  Were  it  otherwise 
the  monarchy  would  not  be  possible.  It  is  this 
difference  which  very  often  makes  the  republic 
seem  ungrateful  as  compared  with  the  monarchy. 
But  in  the  aggregate  in  which  all  men  are  sup- 
posedly equal  nothing  else  can  be  looked  for. 

We  must  look  to  that  condition  for  an  answer 
to  the  question  which  the  subject  treated  here 
has  suggested.  And,  after  all,  this  is  half  a  dozen 
of  one  and  six  of  the  other.  In  the  end  we  expect 
any  aggregate  to  defend  its  institutions,  whether 
they  be  republican  or  monarchical.  In  the  re- 
public the  devotion  necessary  may  have  its  foun- 
dation in  the  desire  to  preserve  liberal  insti- 
tutions, while  in  the  monarchy  attunement  to  the 
great  lodestar,  tradition,  may  be  the  direct  cause 
of  patriotism.  In  England,  the  ideal  monarchy, 
we  have  a  mixture  of  both  tendencies,  and  who 
would  say  that  the  mixture,  from  the  British 
national  point  of  view,  has  been  a  bad  one? 


XII 

SHORTAGE   SUPREME 

A  HUNDRED  and  twelve  million  people  in 
•**•  Central  Europe  were  thinking  in  terms  of 
shortage  as  they  approached  the  winter  of  1916- 
17.  Government  and  press  said  daily  that  relief 
would  come.  The  public  was  advised  to  be 
patient  another  day,  another  week,  another 
month.  All  would  be  well  if  patience  was  ex- 
ercised. That  patience  was  exercised,  but  in  the 
mind  of  the  populace  the  shortage  assumed  pro- 
portions that  were  at  times  hard  to  understand. 

The  ancestors  of  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  had 
been  buried  in  a  rather  peculiar  manner.  From 
the  body  were  taken  the  brain,  heart,  and  vis- 
cera in  order  to  make  embalming  possible.  The 
heart  was  then  put  away  in  a  silver  vessel,  while 
the  other  parts  were  placed  in  a  copper  urn. 
In  the  funeral  processions  these  containers  were 
carried  in  a  vehicle  following  the  imperial  hearse. 

The  funeral  cortege  of  Francis  Joseph  was 
without  that  vehicle.  The  old  man  had  re- 
quested that  he  be  buried  without  the  dissection 
that  had  been  necessary  in  other  instances.  That 
being  the  case,  the  vehicle  was  not  needed. 

195 


THE    IRON   RATION 

But  its  absence  was  misinterpreted  by  the 
populace.  It  gave  rise  to  the  belief  that  the 
copper  for  the  urn  could  not  be  spared,  seeing 
that  the  army  needed  all  of  that  metal.  That 
little  copper  would  have  been  required  to  fashion 
the  urn  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  them. 
It  was  enough  to  know  that  the  church  bells 
had  been  melted  down  and  that  in  the  entire 
country  there  was  not  a  copper  roof  left. 

The  phantom  of  shortage  waxed  when  it 
became  known  that  the  lack  of  the  necessary 
chemicals  had  led  to  the  embalming  of  the  Em- 
peror's body  with  a  fluid  which  had  so  discolored 
the  body  and  face  that  the  coffin  had  to  be  closed 
during  the  lying-in-state  of  the  dead  ruler.  It 
grew  again  when  it  became  known  that,  owing 
to  a  lack  of  horses,  many  changes  had  to  be 
made  in  the  funeral  arrangements,  and  that 
most  of  the  pomp  of  the  Spanish  court  etiquette 
of  funerals  would  have  to  be  abandoned.  What 
had  anciently  been  a  most  imposing  ceremony 
became  in  the  end  a  very  quiet  affair.  With 
one  half  of  the  world  at  war  with  the  other  half, 
there  was  a  dearth  even  in  monarchs,  nobility, 
and  diplomatists  to  attend  the  funeral. 

Somehow  I  gained  the  impression  that  the 
word  "Want"  was  written  even  on  the  plain 
coffin  which  they  lifted  upon  the  catafalque  in 
St.  Stefan's  Cathedral  in  Vienna,  twenty  feet 
away  from  me.  To  get  into  the  church  I  had 
passed  through  a  throng  that  showed  want  and 
deprivation  in  clothing  and  mien.  It  was  a 
chilly  day.  Through  the  narrow  streets  leading 

196 


SHORTAGE    SUPREME 

to  the  small  square  in  which  the  cathedral  stands 
a  raw  wind  was  blowing,  and  I  remember  well 
how  the  one  bright  spot  in  that  dreary  picture 
was  the  tall  spire  of  the  cathedral  upon  which 
fell  the  light  of  the  setting  winter  sun.  The 
narrow  streets  and  little  square  lay  in  the  gloom 
that  fitted  the  occasion.  The  shadow  of  death 
seemed  to  have  fallen  on  everything — upon  all 
except  the  large  white  cross  which  presently 
moved  up  the  central  aisle.  Under  the  pall 
which  the  cross  divided  into  four  black  fields 
lay  the  remains  of  the  unhappiest  of  men.  His 
last  days  had  been  made  bitter  by  his  people's 
cry  for  bread. 

Since  coal  was  scarce,  the  church  had  not  been 
heated.  But  that  night,  as  if  in  honor  of  the 
funeral  guests,  a  few  more  lights  burned  on  the 
principal  thoroughfares  of  Vienna.  Even  that 
was  reckless  extravagance  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

Hundreds  of  thousands  of  women  and  children 
were  sitting  in  cold  rooms  at  that  time.  The 
coal-lines  brought  usually  disappointment,  but 
no  fuel.  Even  the  hospitals  to  which  many  of 
these  unfortunates  had  to  be  taken  found  it 
difficult  to  get  what  coal  they  needed.  The 
street-car  service  had  been  curtailed  to  such  an 
extent  that  many  were  unable  to  reach  their 
place  of  work.  In  Austria  that  was  especially 
the  fault  of  the  Stiirgkh  regime,  whose  mad 
career  in  burning  the  candle  at  both  ends  the 
dead  emperor  had  failed  to  check. 

To  keep  certain  neighbors  good-natured  and 

14  197 


THE    IRON    RATION 

get  from  them  such  foods  as  they  could  spare, 
the  Central  states  of  Europe  had  in  1916  ex- 
ported roughly  three  million  two  hundred  thou- 
sands tons  of  coal.  Another  million  tons  had 
been  shipped  into  the  territories  occupied  by 
the  Centralist  troops.  This  was  no  great  coal 
business,  of  course,  especially  when  we  come 
to  consider  that  some  of  this  fuel  came  from 
Belgium.  But  the  four  million  tons  could  have 
been  used  at  home  without  a  lump  going  beg- 
ging. When  Christmas  came  coal  was  as  scarce 
in  Germany,  Austria,  and  Hungary  as  was  food. 
And  that  is  saying  a  great  deal. 

Much  economy  had  been  already  practised 
during  the  summer.  "Summer  time"  meant  the 
saving  each  day  of  one  hour's  consumption  of 
fuel  in  city  traction  and  lighting  street,  house, 
and  shop.  The  saving  was  not  great,  when  com- 
pared with  the  fuel  a  population  of  roundly 
one  hundred  and  twelve  millions  will  consume 
when  given  a  free  hand.  But  it  was  something, 
anyway. 

That  something  was  an  easement  of  conditions 
in  the  coal  market  during  the  summer  months. 
It  did  not  make  available  for  the  cold  season  so 
much  as  a  shovelful  of  coal.  Whatever  the  mines 
put  out  was  carted  off  there  and  then.  When 
winter  came  the  bunkers  were  empty. 

The  prospect  of  having  to  bear  with  an  ever- 
craving  stomach  the  discomforts  of  the  cold  and 
poorly  lighted  rooms  was  not  pleasant. 

The  government  saw  this  and  tried  a  little 
belated  regulation. 

198 


SHORTAGE   SUPREME 

I  say  belated  regulation  because  the  measures 
came  too  late  to  have  much  value.  That  there 
would  be  a  shortage  in  coal  had  been  foreseen. 
Nothing  could  be  done,  however,  to  ward  off 
the  Knappheit. 

Among  my  many  acquaintances  is  the  owner 
of  several  coal-mines  in  Austrian  Silesia.  His 
handicaps  were  typical  of  what  every  mine- 
operator  had  to  contend  with. 

"The  coal  is  there,  of  course,"  he  would  say. 
"But  how  am  I  to  get  it  out?  My  best  miners 
are  at  the  front.  Coal-mining  may  be  done  only 
by  men  who  are  physically  the  fittest.  That  is 
the  very  class  of  man  the  government  needs  at 
the  front.  I  am  trying  to  come  somewhere  near 
my  normal  output  with  men  that  are  long  past 
the  age  when  they  can  produce  what  is  expected 
of  the  average  miner. 

"It  can't  be  done,  of  course. 

"Women  are  no  good  underground.  So  I 
have  tried  Russian  prisoners-of-war.  I  went  to  a 
prison  camp  and  picked  out  seventy-five  of  the 
most  likely  chaps.  I  made  willingness  to  work 
in  a  mine  one  of  the  conditions  of  their  furlough. 
They  all  were  willing — so  long  as  they  did  not 
know  what  the  work  was.  Right  there  the 
willingness  of  half  the  crew  ended.  I  sent  them 
back  and  tried  my  luck  with  the  rest. 

"To  get  some  work  out  of  the  men,  I  made 
arrangements  with  the  government  that  I  was 
to  pay  them  four-fifths  of  the  regular  scale.  It 
isn't  a  question  of  money.  It's  a  question  of 
getting  at  the  coal.  To  make  a  long  story  short: 

199 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Out  of  the  seventy-five  Russians  seventeen  have 
qualified.  I  can't  afford  to  repeat  the  experi- 
ment, for  the  reason  that  apprentices  litter  up 
the  works  and  interfere  with  the  few  miners  I 
have  left." 

The  man  was  short  then  nearly  two  hundred 
workers  at  the  mine  shafts.  He  had  underground 
most  of  his  surface  hands.  With  overtime  and 
some  other  makeshifts  he  was  able  to  produce 
about  four-fifths  of  his  normal  output.  The 
demand  for  fuel  was  such  that  he  would  have 
been  able  to  sell  twice  as  much  coal  as  formerly. 

Natural  resources  mean  nothing  to  a  state  so 
long  as  they  cannot  be  made  available.  This 
was  the  case  with  Central  Europe. 

More  economy,  more  restrictions.  Industries 
not  contributing  directly  to  the  military  strength 
of  the  Central  Powers  were  ordered  to  discon- 
tinue all  night  work  and  overtime.  Shops, 
caf6s,  hotels,  restaurants,  and  other  public 
places  had  to  limit  the  consumption  of  fuel  for 
heating  and  lighting  purposes  to  one-third  their 
usual  quota.  The  lighting  of  shop- windows  was 
cut  down  to  almost  nothing.  Stores  had  to 
close  at  seven  o'clock,  eating-  and  drinking- 
places  first  at  twelve  and  later  at  eleven.  No 
light  was  to  be  used  in  the  hotels  after  twelve. 
All  unnecessary  heating  was  prohibited,  and  the 
warm-water  period  in  hotels  shrank  from  four 
to  two  hours  per  day.  On  each  stretch  of  cor- 
ridor and  at  each  stair-landing  or  elevator  door 
one  small  light  was  allowed. 

In  Vienna  all  places  of  amusement  "not  con- 

200 


SHORTAGE    SUPREME 

tributing  to  the  cultivation  of  art  for  art's  sake" 
were  closed.  This  hit  the  cheaper  theaters  and 
every  moving-picture  house. 

A  city  of  such  restrictions  would  need  no 
street  lights  at  any  time.  But  up  to  eleven 
o'clock  two  lights  for  each  block  were  allowed. 
After  that  Stygian  black  reigned.  Street  trac- 
tion ceased  on  some  lines  at  eight  o'clock;  on 
all  lines  at  nine,  though  arrangements  were  made 
for  a  few  cars  to  run  when  the  playing  theaters 
closed. 

But  the  regulations  came  near  spilling  the  baby 
with  the  bath.  They  were  well  meant,  but  poorly 
considered.  Economic  waste  came  from  them. 

The  several  governments  did  their  very  best 
to  get  coal  to  the  consumers.  In  Vienna,  for  in- 
stance, Emperor  Charles  took  a  personal  interest 
in  the  matter.  He  issued  an  order  that  as  many 
miners  as  possible  be  returned  immediately  from 
the  front.  For  the  workers  at  the  mines,  who 
had  been  living  none  too  well  so  far  as  food 
went,  he  prescribed  the  subsistence  given  the 
men  in  the  trenches  and  placed  military  com- 
missaries in  charge  of  the  kitchens.  Men  from 
the  military  railroad  organizations  were  given 
the  running  of  coal-trains.  For  certain  hours 
each  day  the  passenger  service  of  the  city  street 
traction  systems  was  suspended  in  favor  of  the 
coal  traffic,  which  often  gave  rise  to  the  unusual 
sight  of  seeing  an  electric  street-car  drag  behind 
it,  over  the  pavement,  from  three  to  five  ordinary 
coal-wagons,  which  later  were  towed  to  their 

destination  by  army  tractors. 

201 


THE   IRON   RATION 

It  was  a  herculean  labor  that  would  have  to 
be  done  in  a  few  days,  if  a  part  of  the  population 
were  not  to  perish  in  the  cold  spell  that  had  come 
over  Central  Europe.  The  work  of  a  whole  sum- 
mer was  now  to  be  done  in  a  few  days. 

From  the  front  came  whole  columns  of  army 
motor  trucks.  These  took  a  hand  at  coal  dis- 
tribution. And  finally  Emperor  Charles  gave 
over  to  the  work  every  horse  in  the  imperial 
stables. 

I  will  never  forget  the  sight  of  the  imperial 
coachmen  in  their  yellow-and-black  uniforms 
hauling  coal  all  over  Vienna.  Their  cockaded 
top-hats  looked  out  of  place  on  the  coal-wagons, 
though  no  more  so  than  the  fine  black  and  silver- 
adorned  harness  of  the  full-blooded  horses  that 
drew  the  wagons. 

The  press  was  freer  now.  Political  censorship 
had  been  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Criticism 
changed  with  valuable  tips,  and  one  of  them  was 
that  the  government  had  done  a  very  foolish 
thing  in  closing  the  Kinos — movies.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  their  closing  resulted  in  so  small 
a  saving  of  fuel  for  heating  and  lighting  that, 
compared  with  the  wasteful  result  of  the  regula- 
tion, it  stood  as  one  to  hundreds. 

Such  was  the  case.  The  men,  women,  and 
families  who  had  formerly  spent  their  evenings 
in  the  movies  were  now  obliged  to  frequent  the 
more  expensive  cafe's  or  sit  home  and  use  light 
and  fuel.  Some  man  with  a  statistical  mind 
figured  out  that  the  closing  of  a  movie  seating 
five  hundred  people  and  giving  two  performances 

202 


SHORTAGE    SUPREME 

in  the  evening,  meant  an  increase  in  fuel  con- 
sumption for  heating  and  lighting  purposes  sixty 
times  greater  than  what  the  movie  used. 

That  was  simple  enough,  and  a  few  days  later 
the  movies  and  cheap  theaters  resumed  business. 
More  than  that  followed.  The  government  de- 
cided that  this  was  a  fine  method  of  co-operation. 
It  gave  the  cafes  permission  to  use  more  fuel  and 
light  in  return  for  a  more  liberal  treatment  of 
patrons  not  able  to  spend  much  money.  In  har- 
mony with  this  policy  the  passenger  service  of 
the  car  lines  was  extended  first  to  nine  and  later 
to  ten  o'clock,  so  that  people  were  not  obliged  to 
spend  every  evening  in  the  same  cafe  or  other 
public  place. 

The  case  was  a  fine  example  of  co-operation 
between  government  and  public,  with  the  press 
as  the  medium  of  thought  exchange.  A  twelve- 
month before,  the  reaching  of  such  an  under- 
standing would  have  been  next  to  impossible. 
The  editor  who  then  mastered  the  courage  of 
criticizing  a  government  measure  had  the  sus- 
pension of  his  paper  before  his  eyes.  He  no 
longer  had  to  fear  this.  The  result  was  a  clear- 
ing of  the  political  atmosphere.  Government 
and  people  were  in  touch  with  one  another  for 
the  first  time  in  two  years. 

For  over  a  year  all  effort  of  the  upper  classes 
had  lain  fallow.  The  women  who  had  done 
their  utmost  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  had  not 
met  enough  encouragement  to  keep  their  labor 
up.  It  had  been  found,  moreover,  that  charity 
concerts  and  teas  "an'  sich"  were  of  little  value 

203 


THE   IRON   RATION 

in  times  when  everything  had  to  be  done  on  the 
largest  of  scales.  What  good  could  come  from 
collecting  a  few  thousand  marks  or  crowns,  when 
not  money,  but  food,  was  the  thing? 

The  fuel  conjunction  offered  new  opportunities. 
Free  musical  recitals,  concerts,  theatrical  per- 
formances, and  lectures  were  arranged  for  in 
order  that  thousands  might  be  attracted  away 
from  their  homes  and  thus  be  prevented  from 
using  coal  and  light. 

One  of  the  leaders  in  this  movement  in  Vienna 
was  Princess  Alexandrine  Windisch-Graetz. 

The  lady  is  either  the  owner  or  the  lessee  of  the 
Urania  Theater.  In  the  past  she  had  financed  at 
her  house  free  performances  and  lectures  for  the 
people  in  order  that  they  might  not  be  without 
recreation.  A  washed  face  and  clean  collar 
were  the  admission  fee.  Under  her  auspices 
many  such  institutions  sprang  up  within  a  few 
weeks. 

"We  are  saving  coal  and  educating  the  masses 
at  the  same  time,"  she  would  say  to  me.  "There 
are  times  when  making  a  virtue  of  necessity  has 
its  rewards." 

And  rewards  the  scheme  did  have.  Lectures 
on  any  conceivable  subject  could  be  heard,  and 
I  was  glad  to  notice  that  not  a  single  one  dealt 
with  the  war.  The  public  was  tired  of  this  sub- 
ject and  the  promoters  of  the  lectures  were  no 
less  so. 

Those  whom  lectures  did  not  attract  could  go 
to  the  free  concerts,  and,  when  the  cheaper  music 
palled,  payment  of  twelve  cents  American 

204 


SHORTAGE    SUPREME 

brought  within  reach  the  best  Vienna  has  to  offer 
in  symphony  and  chamber  music. 

At  the  same  time  "  warming  "-rooms  were  es- 
tablished in  many  cities.  These  were  for  unat- 
tached women  and  the  wives  of  men  at  the  front. 
Care  was  taken  to  have  these  places  as  cozy  as 
circumstances  permitted.  Entertainment  was 
provided.  Much  of  it  took  the  form  of  timely 
lectures  on  food  conservation,  care  of  the  chil- 
dren, and  related  topics.  Many  of  the  women 
heard  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives  that  there 
were  more  than  two  ways  of  cooking  potatoes, 
and  other  manners  of  putting  baby  to  sleep  than 
addling  its  brain  by  rocking  it  in  a  cradle  or 
perambulator. 

I  must  say  that  this  solution  of  the  coal  prob- 
lem was  an  unqualified  success. 

The  well-to-do  also  felt  the  pinch.  Money  no 
longer  bought  much  of  anything.  The  word 
"wealth"  had  lost  most  of  its  meaning.  In  the 
open  food  market  it  might  buy  an  overlooked  can 
of  genuine  Russian  caviar  or  some  real  pate  de 
foie  gras,  and  if  one  could  trust  one's  servants 
and  was  willing  to  descend  to  illicit  trading  with 
some  hoarding  dealer,  some  extra  food  could  be 
had  that  way.  In  most  other  aspects  of  sub- 
sistence rich  and  poor,  aristocrat  and  commoner, 
fared  very  much  alike.  But  I  cannot  say  that  this 
"democracy  of  want"  was  relished  by  the  upper 
classes. 

By  this  time  every  automobile  had  been  requi- 
sitioned by  the  government.  That  was  painful, 
but  bearable  so  long  as  taxis  could  be  had.  Of  a 

205 


THE    IRON   RATION 

sudden  it  was  found  that  most  of  the  taxicabs 
were  being  hired  by  the  day  and  week,  often 
months,  by  those  who  could  afford  it.  That  was 
contrary  to  the  purpose  for  which  the  govern- 
ment had  left  the  machines  in  town.  They  were 
intended  mainly  to  take  officers  and  the  public 
from  the  railroad  stations  to  the  hotels,  and  vice 
versa.  As  an  aid  to  shopping  they  had  not  been 
considered,  nor  had  it  been  borne  in  mind  that 
some  war  purveyor's  family  would  wish  to  take 
the  air  in  the  park  by  being  wheeled  through  it. 
Regulation  descended  swiftly. 

Hereafter  taxicab-drivers  could  wait  for  a  pas- 
senger five  minutes  if  the  trip  from  starting- 
point  to  destination  had  to  be  interrupted.  If 
the  passenger  thought  it  would  take  him  longer 
he  was  obliged  to  pay  his  fare  and  dismiss  the 
taxi.  Policemen  had  orders  to  arrest  any  taxi- 
driver  who  violated  this  rule;  and  since  the  two 
do  not  seem  to  get  along  well  together  anywhere, 
there  was  much  paying  of  fines. 

Regulation  being  still  somewhat  piecemeal,  the 
hacks  had  been  overlooked.  Those  who  had  to 
have  wheel  transportation  at  their  beck  and  call 
hired  these  now  by  the  day  and  week.  Another 
order  came.  The  hack-driver  could  wait  in  front 
of  a  store  or  any  place  ten  minutes  and  then  he 
had  to  take  another  "fare." 

The  upper  classes  had  retained  their  fine 
equipages,  of  course.  The  trouble  was  that  the 
government  had  taken  away  every  horse  and 
had  even  deprived  the  wheels  of  their  rubber 
tires.  With  taxis  and  hacks  not  to  be  had,  es- 

206 


SHORTAGE   SUPREME 

pecially  when  the  government  ruled  later  that 
they  could  be  used  between  railroad  stations 
only,  and  not  to  points,  even  in  that  case,  that 
could  be  reached  with  the  street-cars,  social  life  of 
the  higher  order  took  a  fearful  slump.  Though  a 
season  of  very  quiet  dressing  was  at  hand,  one 
could  not  go  calling  in  the  evening  in  the  habili- 
ment impervious  to  rain.  Simple  luncheons  and 
teas  were  the  best  that  society  could  manage 
under  the  circumstances. 

The  theater  remained  a  little  more  accessible. 
Street-cars  were  provided  to  take  the  spectators 
home.  With  the  show  over,  everybody  made  a 
wild  scramble  for  the  cars.  Central  Europe  was 
having  democracy  forced  down  its  throat.  The 
holder  of  a  box  at  the  Royal  Opera  had  indeed 
abandoned  the  evening  dress  and  chapeau  claque. 
His  lady  had  followed  his  example  in  a  half- 
hearted manner.  But  all  this  did  not  make  the 
ride  home  easier.  The  gallery  angel  in  Central 
Europe  is  well-behaved  and  not  inclined  to  be 
conspicuous  or  forward.  But  he  takes  up  room, 
and  one  was  elbowed  by  him.  When  soap  was 
scarce  he  also  was  not  always  washed  all  over, 
and  that  made  a  difference. 

But  the  theaters  did  a  fine  business,  for  all  that. 
The  better  institutions  were  sold  out  three  weeks 
ahead,  and  the  cheaper  shows  were  crowded  by 
the  overflow. 

Admission  to  the  theater  was  the  one  thing 
that  had  not  gone  up  in  price  very  much.  The 
artists  had  agreed  to  work  for  a  little  less,  and 
those  to  whom  royalties  were  due  had  acted  in 

207 


THE    IRON   RATION 

a  like  public  spirit.  Managers  were  content 
with  being  allowed  to  run  on  about  a  5-per-cent.- 
profit  basis.  I  suppose  they  thought  that  half 
a  loaf  was  better  than  none.  There  would  have 
been  none  had  they  gone  up  in  their  prices. 

The  performances  were  up  to  standard.  A 
great  deal  of  Shakespeare  was  being  given.  Two 
of  the  Vienna  theaters  played  Shakespeare  twice 
a  week,  and  at  Berlin  as  many  as  three  houses 
had  a  Shakespearian  program.  Oscar  Wilde  and 
George  Bernard  Shaw  plays  were  occasionally 
given  and  also  some  by  the  older  French  play- 
wrights. Modern  French  authors  seemed  to  be 
taboo.  No  changes  were  made  in  the  play-lists 
of  the  operas,  nor  was  prejudice  manifested  on 
the  concert  programs.  All  performances  were 
in  German,  however — Hungarian  in  Budapest. 
In  other  parts  of  the  Dual  Monarchy  they  were 
given  in  the  language  of  the  district;  Italian,  for 
instance,  in  Trieste,  where  I  heard  a  late  Italian 
opera  comique  just  imported  via  Switzerland. 

The  stage  was  not  fallow  by  any  means  during 
the  war.  In  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Budapest  it 
was  a  poor  week  that  did  not  have  its  two  or 
three  premieres.  It  is  rather  odd  that  nobody 
wrote  plays  about  the  war.  Of  some  twoscore 
new  plays  I  saw  in  three  years  not  a  single  one 
occupied  itself  with  a  theme  related  to  the 
struggle  that  was  going  on.  It  seemed,  too,  that 
the  playwrights  had  turned  their  attention  to 
psychological  study.  One  of  these  efforts  was 
a  phenomenal  success.  I  refer  to  Franz  Molnar's 
"Patching" 

208 


SHORTAGE    SUPREME 

About  twenty  new  "Viennese"  operas  made 
their  debut  during  the  war.  Just  two  of  them 
touched  upon  the  thing  that  was  uppermost  in 
the  mind  of  man.  The  others  dealt  with  the 
good  old  days  of  long  ago;  the  happy  days  of 
our  great-grandfathers,  when  soldiers  still  wore 
green  uniforms  with  broad  lapels  of  scarlet  and 
lapped-over  swallowtails  that  showed  the  same 
color;  when  soldiers  carried  a  most  murderous- 
looking  sidearm  on  "clayed"  leather  sashes 
hung  rakishly  over  the  shoulder.  How  happy 
those  fellows  looked  as  they  blew  imaginary 
foam  from  their  empty  steins  in  front  of  the  inn ! 

Ten  operas  were  turned  out  in  the  three  years. 
I  give  credit  for  much  vitality  to  only  one  of 
them.  It  is  known  as  "Der  Heiland" — "The 
Saviour."  It  was  voted  the  one  addition  to 
lasting  music. 

With  concert-composers  also  busy,  there  was 
no  dearth  of  musical  enjoyment.  The  art  world 
did  yeoman  service  to  keep  the  population  from 
going  insane.  .As  to  that  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
It  was  fortunate  that  the  Central  European 
public  can  find  so  much  mental  nourishment  in 
the  theater  and  concert-hall.  Otherwise  there 
would  have  been  a  lack  of  room  in  the  asylums 
for  the  insane. 

Society,  however,  did  not  go  to  sleep  entirely. 
The  luncheons  were  simple  repasts,  but  lasted 
all  the  longer.  Usually  one  left  in  time  to  reach 
tea  somewhere  else.  For  dinner  only  the  closest 
friends  of  the  family  were  invited,  and  when 
others  had  to  be  entertained  in  that  manner 

209 


THE    IRON   RATION 

there  was  the  hotel.  Balls  and  similar  frivolities 
were  under  the  ban,  of  course. 

After  listening  all  day  long  to  what  the  people 
in  the  cafes  and  restaurants  had  to  say  of  the 
war,  it  was  really  refreshing  to  hear  what  the 
aristocrats  thought.  Most  of  them  were  severely 
objective  in  their  opinions,  some  verged  on  neu- 
trality, and  a  small  number  took  the  tragedy  of 
the  war  to  heart. 

Among  the  latter  was  a  princess  related  to 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph  by  marriage.  She  was 
a  motherly  old  woman.  The  very  thought  of 
warfare  was  unwelcome  to  her.  She  had  one 
expression  for  what  she  thought  of  the  calamity: 

"Civilization  has  declared  itself  bankrupt  in 
this  war." 

What  she  meant  was  that  a  civilization  that 
could  lead  to  such  a  catastrophe  had  shown  itself 
futile.  She  was  plain-spoken  for  one  of  her 
station,  and  the  American  ambassador  at  Vienna 
was  her  bdte  noire.  This  will  suffice  to  identify 
the  lady  to  all  whom  her  identity  could  interest. 

Much  of  the  food  shortage  was  laid  at  the  door 
of  the  United  States  government.  Why  didn't 
the  American  government  see  to  it  that  the 
Central  states  civilian  populations  received  that 
to  which  international  law  and  the  recent  The 
Hague  and  London  conventions  entitled  them? 

I  was  asked  that  question  a  thousand  .times 
every  week.  With  the  male  questioners  I  could 
argue  the  point,  but  with  the  ladies  ...  it  was 
another  matter.  As  many  as  ten  at  a  time 

have   nailed   me   down   to   that   question.     At 

210 


SHORTAGE   SUPREME 

first  that  used  to  ruin  many  a  day  for  me,  but 
finally  one  gets  used  to  anything. 

The  question  was  not  so  easily  answered  in 
Central  Europe.  The  best  reply  was  that  I  was 
not  running  anything  aside  from  myself,  in  which 
I  followed  the  ways  of  the  diplomatist  who  is 
never  responsible  for  the  acts  of  his  government 
so  long  as  he  wishes  to  remain  persona  grata. 

On  the  whole,  Central  European  society  was 
leading  a  rather  colorless  life  when  the  war  was 
three  years  old.  Even  their  charity  work  had  no 
longer  much  of  a  sphere.  It  was  still  possible  to 
collect  money  by  means  of  concerts,  teas,  and 
receptions — bazaars  had  to  be  abandoned  because 
everybody  had  tired  of  them — but  there  was  so 
little  that  money  could  buy.  Government  con- 
trol had  gradually  spread  over  everything,  and, 
with  everybody  working  hard,  nobody  needed 
much  assistance,  as  everybody  thought.  That 
was  not  the  case  by  any  means,  but  such  was 
largely  the  popular  impression. 

The  truth  was  that  everybody  was  tired  of 
working  at  the  same  old  charities.  The  shortage 
of  fuel  gave  a  new  opportunity,  but  did  not 
occupy  many.  It  was  one  thing  to  pin  a  paper 
rosette  to  a  lapel  in  return  for  an  offering  will- 
ingly made,  and  quite  another  to  preside  over  a 
co-operative  dining-room  or  a  place  where  the 
women  and  children  could  warm  themselves  and 
pass  the  time  with  pleasure  and  profit  to  them- 
selves. Not  many  were  equal  to  that.  Few  had 
the  necessary  experience. 

The  worst  of  it  was  that  travel  to  the  inter- 
211 


THE    IRON    RATION 

national  summer  and  winter  resorts  was  out  of 
the  question.  And  to  move  about  in  one's  own 
country  meant  passes,  vis6es,  authorizations, 
health  certificates,  documents  attesting  good  con- 
duct and  a  clean  slate  with  the  police;  and  if 
by  chance  the  trip  should  take  one  into  an  inner 
or  outer  war  zone,  the  home  authorities  had  to  go 
on  record  as  having  established  that  he  or  she 
was  not  plagued  by  insects.  It  is  remarkable 
what  the  Central  governments  would  do  in  the 
interest  of  law  and  order,  public  security,  and 
sanitation.  But  it  was  more  remarkable  that 
the  highest  nobility  had  to  conform  to  the  same 
rules.  The  only  persons  who  had  the  right  to 
sidestep  any  of  these  multifarious  regulations 
were  officers  and  soldiers  whose  military  cre- 
dentials answered  every  purpose.  Since  I  trav- 
eled only  on  Offene  Order — open  order — the 
marching  order  of  the  officer,  I  was  one  of  the 
few  civilians  exempt  from  this  annoyance. 

That  and  the  state  of  the  railroads  kept  the 
upper  classes  at  home.  Many  of  them  were  thus 
afforded  their  first  good  chance  to  know  where 
they  lived. 

Shortage  had  even  come  to  rule  the  day  for  the 
aristocrats.  It  was  a  bitter  pill  for  them,  but  I 
will  say  that  they  swallowed  it  without  batting 
an  eye. 


XIII 

"GIVE  us  BREAD!" 

food  situation  in  Central  Europe  be- 
-•-  came  really  desperate  in  the  third  year  of 
the  war.  The  year's  wheat  crop  had  been  short 
in  quantity  and  quality.  Its  nutritive  value 
was  about  55  per  cent,  of  normal.  The  rye  crop 
was  better,  but  not  large  enough  to  meet  the 
shortage  in  breadstuffs  caused  by  the  poor  wheat 
yield.  Barley  was  fair  under  the  circumstances. 
Oats  were  a  success  in  many  parts  of  Germany, 
but  fell  very  low  in  Austria  and  Hungary.  The 
potato  crop  was  a  failure.  The  supply  of  peas 
and  beans  had  been  augmented  by  garden  cult- 
ure, but  most  people  held  what  they  had  raised 
and  but  little  of  the  crop  reached  the  large  pop- 
ulation centers.  To  make  things  worse,  the  Hun- 
garian Indian  corn  crop  was  very  indifferent. 
Great  losses  were  sustained  when  the  Roumanian 
army  in  September  and  October  overran  much 
of  Transylvania,  drove  off  some  twenty  thousand 
head  of  cattle,  and  slaughtered  about  fifty  thou- 
sand pigs.  Large  quantities  of  cereals  were  also 
ruined  by  them,  as  I  was  able  to  ascertain  on 

my  trips  to  the  Roumanian  front. 
15  213 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Up  to  this  time  the  war-bread  of  the  Central 
states  had  been  rather  palatable,  though  a 
steady  loss  in  quality  had  been  noticeable. 
Soon  it  came  to  pass  that  the  ration  of  bread 
had  to  be  reduced  to  about  one-quarter  of  a 
pound  per  day.  And  the  dough  it  was  made  of 
was  no  longer  good. 

The  55-25-20  war-bread  was  good  to  eat  and 
very  nutritious.  The  stuff  now  passing  for 
bread  was  anything  but  that,  so  far  as  Austria 
was  concerned.  Its  quality  fluctuated  from  one 
week  to  another.  I  was  unable  to  keep  track 
of  it.  Indian  corn  was  already  used  in  the  loaf, 
and  before  long  ground  clover  hay  was  to  form 
one  of  its  constituents.  Worst  of  all,  the  bread 
was  not  always  to  be  had.  At  the  beginning 
of  November  the  three  slices  of  bread  into  which 
the  ration  was  divided,  as  a  rule,  fell  to  two,  so 
that  the  daily  allowance  of  bread  was  not  quite 
four  ounces.  On  one  occasion  Vienna  had  hardly 
any  bread  for  four  days. 

In  Hungary  conditions  were  a  little  better, 
for  the  reason  that  the  Hungarian  government 
had  closed  the  border  against  wheat  and  cereal 
exports.  But  the  large  population  centers  were 
also  poorly  provided  with  flour. 

Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  was  better  off 
than  either  Austria  or  Hungary.  The  rye  crop 
had  been  fairly  good,  and  food  regulation  was 
further  advanced  there.  It  was,  in  fact,  close 
to  the  point  of  being  perfect.  But  the  quantity 
allotted  the  individual  was  inadequate,  of  course. 

Throughout  Central  Europe  the  cry  was  heard: 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

"Give  us  bread!". 

So  far  the  several  populations  had  borne  all 
hardships  in  patience  and  stoical  indifference. 
The  limit  of  endurance  was  reached,  however. 
Colder  weather  called  for  a  greater  number  of 
calories  to  heat  the  body.  The  vegetable  season 
was  over.  The  hoardings  of  the  poorer  classes 
had  been  eaten  up.  The  cattle  were  no  longer 
on  pasture,  and,  fed  with  hay  only,  gave  now 
less  milk  than  ever. 

It  was  a  mournful  season. 

All  food  was  now  regulated.  While  there  had 
been  no  meat  cards  in  Austria  and  Hungary  as 
yet,  there  were  two,  and  at  times  three,  meatless 
days;  though  when  on  three  days  no  beef,  veal, 
or  pork  could  be  eaten,  it  was  permitted  to  con- 
sume mutton  and  fowl  on  one  of  them. 

But  the  consumption  of  meat  regulated  itself, 
as  it  were.  Meat  has  always  been  proportionately 
expensive  in  Central  Europe,  and  but  a  small 
percentage  of  people  ever  ate  it  more  than  once 
a  day.  The  majority,  in  fact,  ate  meat  only 
three  times  a  week,  as  was  especially  the  case 
in  the  rural  districts,  where  fresh  meat  was 
eaten  only  on  Sundays.  There  was  no  inherent 
craving  for  this  food,  on  this  account,  and  beef 
at  seventy  cents  American  a  pound  was  some- 
thing that  few  could  afford. 

Animal  fat  had  in  the  past  taken  the  place  of 
meat.  In  the  summer  not  much  was  needed  of 
this,  for  the  reason  that  the  warm  weather 
called  for  less  body  heat,  to  supply  which  is  the 
special  mission  of  fats.  But  with  clothing  worn 

215 


THE    IRON    RATION 

thin,  shoes  leaking,  and  rooms  poorly  heated, 
the  demand  for  heat-producing  food  grew  apace. 

This  was  reflected  by  the  longer  potato-lines. 

On  one  occasion  I  occupied  myself  with  a 
potato-line  in  the  Second  Municipal  District 
of  Vienna.  It  was  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
Distribution  was  going  on.  Those  then  served 
had  been  standing  in  that  line  since  six  o'clock. 
The  first  who  had  received  their  quota  of  the 
eight  pounds  of  potatoes,  which  was  to  last  for 
three  days,  had  appeared  in  front  of  the  shop 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  had  rained 
most  of  that  time  and  a  cold  wind  was  blowing. 

I  engaged  one  of  the  women  in  conversation. 

She  had  arrived  at  the  store  at  about  seven 
o'clock.  There  were  three  children  she  had  to 
take  care  of.  She  had  given  them  a  breakfast 
of  coffee  and  bread  for  the  oldest,  and  milk  for 
the  two  others. 

"I  have  nobody  with  whom  I  could  leave  the 
children,"  she  said.  "My  neighbors  also  have 
to  stand  in  the  food-line.  So  I  keep  them  from 
the  stove  by  placing  the  table  on  its  side  in 
front  of  it.  Against  one  end  of  the  table  I  move 
the  couch.  The  children  can't  move  that,  and 
against  the  other  end  I  push  my  dresser." 

It  appears  that  the  woman  had  come  home 
once  from  the  food-line  and  had  found  her 
rooms  on  the  verge  of  going  up  in  a  blaze.  One 
of  the  children  had  opened  the  door  of  the  stove 
and  the  live  coals  had  fallen  out.  They  had  set 
fire  to  some  kindlings  and  a  chair.  The  children 
thought  that  great  fun. 

216 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

I  complimented  the  woman  on  her  resource- 
fulness. 

Her  husband,  a  Bohemian,  was  then  at  the 
front  in  Galicia.  For  the  support  of  the  family 
the  woman  received  from  the  government 
monthly  for  herself  60  crowns  ($12)  and  for  each 
child  30  crowns,  making  a  total  of  150,  of  which 
amount  she  paid  48  crowns  for  rent  every  month. 
I  could  not  see  how,  with  prevailing  prices,  she 
managed  to  keep  herself  alive.  Coal  just  then 
was  from  3  to  5  crowns  per  hundredweight  ($12 
to  $20  per  ton),  and  with  only  one  stove  going 
the  woman  needed  at  least  five  hundred  pounds 
of  coal  a  month.  After  that,  food  and  a  little 
clothing  had  to  be  provided.  How  did  she 
manage  it? 

"During  the  summer  I  worked  in  an  ammuni- 
tion factory  near  here,"  she  said.  "I  earned 
about  twenty-six  crowns  a  week,  and  some  of  the 
money  I  was  able  to  save.  I  am  using  that  now. 
I  really  don't  know  what  I  am  going  to  do  when 
it  is  gone.  There  is  work  enough  to  be  had. 
But  what  is  to  become  of  the  children?  To  get 
food  for  them  I  must  stand  in  line  here  and 
waste  half  of  my  time  every  day." 

The  line  moved  very  slowly,  I  noticed.  I 
concluded  that  the  woman  would  get  her  po- 
tatoes in  about  an  hour,  if  by  that  time  there 
were  any  left. 

Since  I  used  to  meet  the  same  people  in  the 
same  lines,  I  was  able  to  keep  myself  informed 
on  what  food  conditions  were  from  one  week  to 
another.  They  were  gradually  growing  worse. 

217 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Now  and  then  no  bread  could  be  had,  and  the 
potatoes  were  often  bad  or  frozen. 

The  cry  for  food  became  louder,  although  it 
was  not  heard  in  the  hotels  and  restaurants  where 
I  ate.  My  waiters  undertook  to  supply  me  with 
all  the  bread  I  wanted,  card  or  no  card — but  who 
would  eat  the  concoction  they  were  serving?  I 
was  able  to  buy  all  the  meat  I  needed  and 
generally  ate  no  other  flour  products  than  those 
in  the  pastry  and  puddings. 

It  was  a  peculiar  experience,  then,  to  eat 
in  a  well-appointed  dining-room  of  supplies  that 
were  rather  plentiful  because  the  poor,  who  really 
needed  those  things,  could  not  afford  to  buy 
them.  The  patrons  of  the  place  would  come  in, 
produce  such  cards  as  they  had  to  have,  and  then 
order  as  before,  with  all  the  cares  left  to  the 
management — which  cares  were  comparatively 
slight,  seeing  that  the  establishment  dealt  with 
wholesalers  and  usually  did  much  of  its  buying 
clandestinely. 

Somewhere  the  less  fortunate  were  eating  what 
the  luck  of  the  food-line  had  brought  that  day, 
which  might  be  nothing  for  those  who  had  come 
late  and  had  no  neighbors  who  would  lend  a 
little  bread  and  a  few  potatoes.  Suicides  and 
crime,  due  to  lack  of  food,  increased  alarmingly. 

There  was  a  shocking  gauntness  about  the  food- 
lines.  Every  face  showed  want.  The  eyes  un- 
der the  threadbare  shawls  cried  for  bread.  But 
how  could  that  bread  be  had?  It  simply  was  not 
there.  And  such  things  as  a  few  ounces  of  fats  and 
a  few  eggs  every  week  meant  very  little  in  the  end. 

218 


"GIVE    US   BREAD!" 

Perhaps  it  was  just  as  well  that  those  in  the 
food-lines  did  not  know  that  a  large  number  of 
co-citizens  were  yet  living  in  plenty.  There  were 
some  who  feared  that  such  knowledge  might  lead 
to  riots  of  a  serious  nature.  But  I  had  come  to 
understand  the  food-lines  and  their  psychology 
better.  With  the  men  home,  trouble  might  have 
come — could  not  have  been  averted,  in  fact.  But 
the  women  besieging  the  food-shops  were  timid 
and  far  from  hysterical.  Most  of  them  were 
more  concerned  with  the  welfare  of  their  children 
than  with  their  own  troubles,  as  I  had  many  an 
occasion  to  learn.  Not  a  few  of  them  sold  their 
bodies  to  get  money  enough  to  feed  their  off- 
spring. Others  pawned  or  sold  the  last  thing  of 
value  they  had.  The  necessity  of  obtaining  food 
at  any  price  was  such  that  many  a  "business" 
hoard  entered  the  channels  of  illicit  trade  and 
exacted  from  the  unfortunate  poor  the  very  last 
thing  they  had  to  give.  The  price  of  a  pound  of 
flour  or  some  fat  would  in  some  cases  be  800  per 
cent,  of  what  these  things  normally  cost. 

The  several  governments  were  not  ignorant  of 
these  things.  But  for  a  while  they  were  power- 
less, though  now  they  had  abandoned  largely 
their  policy  of  "mobilizing"  the  pennies  of  the 
poor.  To  apply  the  law  to  every  violator  of  the 
food  regulations  was  quite  impossible.  There 
were  not  jails  enough  to  hold  a  tenth  of  them, 
and  a  law  that  cannot  be  equitably  enforced 
should  not  be  enforced  at  all.  The  very  fact 
that  its  enforcement  is  impossible  shows  that  it 
is  contrary  to  the  interest  of  the  social  aggregate. 

219 


THE    IRON   RATION 

In  Germany  a  fine  disregard  for  social  station 
and  wealth  had  marked  almost  every  food-regula- 
tion decree  of  the  government  from  the  very 
first.  The  several  state  governments  were  con- 
cerned with  keeping  their  civil  population  in  as 
good  a  physical  condition  as  the  food  situation 
permitted.  The  financial  needs  of  the  govern- 
ment had  to  be  considered,  but  it  was  forever  the 
object  to  make  the  ration  of  the  poor  as  good  as 
possible,  and  to  do  that  meant  that  he  or  she 
who  had  in  the  past  lived  on  the  fat  of  the  land 
would  now  have  to  be  content  with  less.  As  the 
war  dragged  on,  pauper  and  millionaire  received 
the  same  quantity  of  food.  If  the  latter  was 
minded  to  eat  that  from  expensive  porcelain  he 
could  do  so,  nor  did  anybody  mind  if  he  drank 
champagne  with  it,  for  in  doing  so  he  did  not 
diminish  unnecessarily  the  natural  resources  of 
the  nation. 

Food  regulation  in  Austria  had  been  less  effica- 
cious. In  Hungary  it  was  little  short  of  being  a 
farce.  In  both  countries  special  privilege  is  still 
enthroned  so  high  that  even  the  exigencies  of  the 
war  did  not  assail  it  until  much  damage  had 
been  done. 

It  was  not  until  toward  the  end  of  December 
that  the  two  governments  proceeded  vigorously 
to  attack  the  terrible  mixture  of  food  shortage 
and  chaotic  regulation  that  confronted  them. 

The  new  ruler  of  the  Dual  Monarchy,  Emperor- 
King  Charles,  was  responsible  for  the  change. 

While  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  lived,  the  heir- 
apparent  had  not  occupied  much  of  a  place  in 

220 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

government.  The  camarilla  surrounding  the  old 
man  saw  to  that.  But  by  depriving  the  young 
archduke  of  his  rightful  place,  which  the  in- 
capacity of  the  Emperor  should  have  assigned 
him,  the  court  clique  gave  him  the  very  oppor- 
tunities he  needed  to  understand  the  food  sit- 
uation he  was  to  cope  with  presently — had  to 
cope  with  if  he  wanted  to  see  the  government 
continued. 

The  removal  of  Premier  Stiirgkh  by  the  hand  of 
the  assassin  had  been  timely;  the  death  of  Fran- 
cis Joseph  was  timelier  yet.  The  old  monarch 
had  ceased  to  live  in  the  times  that  were.  He 
came  from  an  age  which  is  as  much  related  to 
our  era  as  is  the  rule  of  the  original  patriarch,  one 
Abraham  of  Chaldea.  Food  conditions  might  be 
brought  to  his  attention,  but  the  effort  served 
no  purpose.  The  old  man  was  incapable  of  un- 
derstanding why  the  interests  of  the  privileged 
classes  should  be  sacrificed  for  the  sake  of  the 
many. 

At  the  several  fronts,  at  points  of  troop  con- 
centration, and  in  the  very  food-lines,  the  young 
Emperor  had  heard  and  seen  what  the  ailments 
and  shortcomings  of  public  subsistence  were. 
One  of  the  first  things  he  did  when  he  came  into 
power  was  to  take  a  keen  and  active  interest  in 
food  questions.  For  one  thing,  he  decided  to 
regulate  consumption  downward.  It  was  a  great 
shock  to  the  privileged  class  when  it  heard  that 
the  Emperor  would  cut  down  the  supply  of  those 
on  top  in  order  that  more  be  left  for  those 
beneath. 

221 


THE    IRON   RATION 

To  do  that  was  not  easy,  however.  The  young 
man  thought  of  the  force  of  example.  He  pro- 
hibited the  eating  at  court  of  any  meals  not  in 
accord  with  the  food  regulations.  Wheat  bread 
and  rolls  were  banished.  Every  servant  not  act- 
ually needed  was  dismissed  so  that  he  might  do 
some  useful  work.  Several  of  the  imperial  and 
royal  establishments  were  closed  altogether.  The 
menage  at  Castle  Schonbrunn  was  disbanded. 
The  personnel  of  the  Hofburg  in  Vienna  was  re- 
duced to  actual  needs.  It  was  ordered  that  only 
one  suite  in  the  palace  be  lighted  and  heated — a 
very  simple  apartment  which  the  Emperor  and 
his  family  occupied. 

Some  very  amusing  stories  are  told  in  connec- 
tion with  the  policy  the  Emperor  had  decided 
to  apply.  I  will  give  here  a  few  of  them — those 
I  have  been  able  to  verify  or  which  for  some 
other  reason  I  may  not  doubt. 

They  had  been  leading  a  rather  easy  life  at  the 
Austro-Hungarian  general  headquarters.  The 
chief  of  staff,  Field-Marshal  Conrad  von  Hot- 
zendorff,  was  rather  indulgent  with  his  subor- 
dinates, and  had  never  discouraged  certain  ex- 
travagances the  officers  of  the  establishment  were 
fond  of.  One  of  them  was  to  have  wheat 
dinner-rolls. 

A  few  days  after  the  new  Emperor's  ascension 
of  the  Austrian  throne  he  happened  to  be  at 
Baden,  near  Vienna,  which  was  then  the  seat  of 
the  general  headquarters.  After  a  conference 
he  intimated  that  he  would  stay  for  dinner  at 
the  general  mess  of  the  staff.  That  was  a  great 

222 


"GIVE   US    BREAD!" 

honor,  of  course,  though  formerly  the  influence  of 
the  archducal  party  had  made  the  heir-apparent 
more  tolerated  than  respected  in  that  very  group. 

After  a  round  of  introductions  Emperor 
Charles  sat  down  at  the  head  of  the  table.  On 
each  napkin  lay  a  roll  and  in  a  basket  there  were 
more.  The  Emperor  laid  his  roll  to  one  side  and 
ate  the  soup  without  any  bread.  When  the  next 
dish  was  being  served,  and  those  at  table  had 
made  good  inroads  upon  their  rolls,  the  Emperor 
called  the  orderly. 

"You  may  bring  me  a  slice  of  war-bread,  and 
mind  you  I  do  not  want  a  whole  loaf,  but  just 
the  third  of  a  daily  ration,  such  as  the  law  en- 
titles me  to.  No  more,  no  less!" 

Some  of  the  officers  almost  choked  on  the  mor- 
sel of  wheat  roll  they  were  about  to  swallow. 
The  Emperor  said  no  more,  however,  and  his 
conversation  continued  with  all  the  bonhomie  for 
which  he  is  known.  But  henceforth  no  more 
wheat  bread  in  any  form  was  to  be  seen  in  any 
officers'  mess.  A  few  days  later  came  an  order 
from  the  civil  authorities  that  all  patrons  of 
hotels  and  restaurants  were  to  bring  their  bread, 
issued  to  them  in  the  morning,  to  their  meals  if 
they  were  not  to  go  without  it.  The  eating- 
house  manager  who  gave  bread  to  patrons  would 
be  fined  heavily  once  or  twice  and  after  that 
would  lose  his  license  to  do  business. 

A  few  days  after  that  I  saw  a  rather  interesting 
thing  in  the  cloak-room  of  the  Court  Opera.  A 
well-dressed  couple  came  in.  The  lady  was 
attired  in  quite  the  latest  thing  made  by  some 

223 


THE    IRON    RATION 

able  couturier,  and  the  man  was  in  evening  dress, 
a  rare  sight  nowadays.  As  he  pushed  his  fur 
coat  across  the  counter  a  small  white  parcel  fell 
to  the  floor.  The  paper  wrapping  parted  and 
two  slices  of  very  black  war-bread  rolled  among 
the  feet  of  the  throng. 

"There  goes  our  supper  bread!"  cried  the 
woman. 

"So  it  seems,"  remarked  the  man.  "But  what 
is  the  use  of  picking  it  up  now?  It's  been  rolling 
about  on  the  floor." 

"But  somebody  can  still  eat  it,"  said  the 
woman. 

Just  then  two  men  handed  back  the  bread. 
Its  owner  wrapped  it  up  again  and  put  the  par- 
cel into  a  pocket.  I  suppose  the  servants  of  the 
household  ate  next  day  more  bread  than  usual. 

Shortly  after  that  I  had  tea  at  the  residence 
of  Mrs.  Penfield,  wife  of  the  American  ambassa- 
dor at  Vienna.  Among  other  guests  was  a 
princess  of  the  house  of  Parma.  There  are  sev- 
eral such  princesses  and  I  have  forgotten  which 
one  it  was,  nor  could  I  say  whether  she  was  a 
sister  or  a  cousin  of  Empress  Zita. 

At  any  rate,  the  young  woman  had  a  son  of 
an  age  when  good  milk  is  the  best  food.  She 
said  that  the  recent  regulations  of  the  govern- 
ment were  such  that  not  even  she  could  trans- 
gress upon  them,  though  that  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  her  intention. 

How  to  get  enough  milk  for  her  boy  was  a 
great  problem,  or  had  been.  The  problem  had 
on  that  very  day  been  solved  by  her,  however. 

224 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

"I  bought  a  good  cow  two  weeks  ago,"  said 
the  princess. 

"That  was  certainly  the  best  way  of  getting 
good  milk,"  commented  the  American  ambassa- 
drice. 

"Yes,  it  was,"  remarked  the  Princess  Parma. 
"But  it  did  not  end  my  troubles.  I  tad  the 
milk  shipped  here,  and  found  that  the  food  au- 
thorities would  not  allow  it  to  be  delivered  to 
me,  except  that  portion  which  the  law  prescribes 
for  children  and  adults.  That  much  I  got.  The 
remainder  was  turned  over  to  the  Food  Central, 
and  I  got  a  letter  saying  that  I  would  be  paid 
for  the  milk  at  the  end  of  the  month." 

"But  the  allowance  is  too  small,  your  High- 
ness," suggested  somebody,  sympathetically. 

"That  is  the  trouble,  of  course,"  returned  the 
princess.  "It  is  too  small  for  a  growing  child. 
But  what  could  I  do?  The  authorities  say  that 
the  law  is  the  law.  I  spoke  to  the  Emperor  about 
it.  He  says  that  he  is  not  the  government  and 
has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Nor  can  he  intercede 
for  me,  he  says,  because  he  does  not  want  to 
set  a  bad  example." 

"Then  the  buying  of  the  cow  did  not  solve 
the  problem,"  I  ventured  to  remark.  "The  so- 
lution is  only  a  partial  one,  your  Highness!" 

The  princess  smiled  in  the  manner  of  those 
who  are  satisfied  with  something  they  have  done. 

"The  problem  is  solved,  monsieur!"  she  said. 
"This  morning  I  shipped  my  boy  to  where  the 
cow  is." 

There  was  no  longer  any  doubt  that  food  regu- 

225 


THE    IRON    RATION 

lation  was  on  in  real  earnest.  When  a  woman 
allied  to  the  imperial  house  was  unable  to  get 
for  her  child  more  milk  than  some  other  mother 
could  get,  things  were  indeed  on  the  plane  of 
equity.  That  every  person  should  thereafter 
get  his  or  her  share  of  the  available  store  of 
bread  is  almost  an  unnecessary  statement. 

The  Austrian  civil  authorities  had  not  made 
a  good  job  of  food  administration.  They  were 
too  fond  of  the  normal  socio-economic  institu- 
tions to  do  what  under  the  circumstances  had 
to  be  done,  and  were  forever  afraid  that  they 
would  adopt  some  measure  that  might  bring 
down  the  entire  economic  structure.  And  that 
fear  was  not  unwarranted,  by  any  means.  The 
drain  of  the  war  had  sapped  the  vitality  of  the 
state.  Though  Austria  was  for  the  time  being 
a  dead  tree,  the  civil  administrators  thought 
that  a  dead  tree  was  still  better  upright  than 
prostrate. 

Emperor  Charles  had  surrounded  himself  with 
young  men,  who  were  enterprising,  rather  than 
attached  to  the  interests  of  the  privileged. 
Among  them  was  a  man  known  as  the  "Red 
Prince."  It  was  not  the  color  of  hair  that  gave 
this  name  to  Prince  Alois  Lichtenstein.  Odd  as 
it  may  sound,  this  scion  of  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent families  in  Europe  is  an  ardent  socialist  in 
theory  and  to  some  extent  in  practice,  though 
not  anxious  to  be  known  as  one.  He  holds  that 
the  chief  promoters  of  socialism  the  world  over 
are  professional  politicians  who  have  seized  upon 
a  very  valuable'  socio-economic  idea  for  the  pur- 

226 


"GIVE   US   BREAD!" 

pose  of  personal  promotion,  and  that  under  these 
circumstances  he  cannot  support  them. 

His  influence  with  the  new  Emperor  was 
great,  and  led  to  a  rather  "unsocialist"  result 
—the  appointment  of  a  military  food-dictator, 
General  Hofer,  a  member  of  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  general  staff. 

It  was  argued  that  equity  in  food  distribution 
could  be  effected  only  by  placing  it  in  charge 
of  a  man  who  would  treat  all  classes  of  the  popu- 
lation as  the  drill-sergeant  does  his  men.  The 
military  food-dictator  had  no  favors  to  grant 
and  none  to  expect.  General  Hoefer  acted  on 
this  principle,  and  despite  the  fact  that  he  was 
handicapped  by  a  top-heavy  regulation  machine 
and  a  shortage  in  all  food  essentials,  he  was 
shortly  able  to  do  for  Austria  what  Dr.  Karl 
Helfferich  had  done  for  Germany. 

In  speaking  here  particularly  of  Austrian  regu- 
lations when  the  crisis  came  I  have  a  special 
objective.  I  am  able  to  give  in  this  manner  a 
better  picture  of  what  was  done  throughout 
Central  Europe.  The  necessity  for  a  certain 
step  in  food  regulation  and  the  modus  operandi 
move  in  a  narrower  sphere.  In  Germany  the 
situation  had  been  met  more  or  less  as  its  phases 
developed;  in  Austria  and  Hungary  this  had 
not  been  done.  There  had  been  much  neglect, 
with  the  result  that  all  problems  were  permitted 
to  reach  that  concrete  form  which  extremity 
was  bound  to  give  them.  So  many  threads  had 
been  pulled  from  the  socio-economic  fabric  that 
holes  could  be  seen,  while  the  Germans  had 

227 


THE    IRON   RATION 

always  managed  in  time  to  prevent  more  than 
the  thinness  of  the  thing  showing. 

The  profit  system  of  distribution  manages  to 
overlook  the  actual  time-and-place  values  of  com- 
modities. Under  it  things  are  not  sold  where 
and  when  they  are  most  needed,  but  where  and 
when  they  will  give  the  largest  profit.  That  the 
two  conditions  referred  to  are  closely  related 
must  be  admitted,  since  supply  and  demand 
are  involved.  But  the  profit-maker  is  ever  more 
interested  in  promoting  demand  than  he  is  in 
easing  supply.  He  must  see  to  it  that  the  con- 
sumer is  as  eager  to  buy  as  the  farmer  is  anxious 
to  sell,  if  business  is  to  be  good.  This  state  of 
affairs  has  its  shortcomings  even  in  time  of 
peace.  What  it  was  to  be  in  war  I  have  suffi- 
ciently shown  already. 

The  regulations  to  which  the  food  crisis  of 
the  fall  of  1916  gave  justification  laid  the  ax 
to  the  middleman  system  of  distribution.  The 
several  governments  empowered  their  Food 
Commissions  and  Centrals  to  establish  short- 
cuts from  farm  to  kitchen  that  were  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  the  authorities.  Though  the  Pur- 
chasing Central  was  even  then  not  unknown, 
it  came  now  to  supplant  the  middleman  entirely. 

The  grain  was  bought  from  the  farmer  and 
turned  over  to  the  mills,  where  it  was  converted 
into  flour  at  a  fixed  price.  The  miller  was  no 
longer  able  to  buy  grain  for  the  purpose  of 
holding  the  flour  afterward  until  some  com- 
mission-man or  wholesaler  made  him  a  good 
offer.  He  was  given  the  gram  and  had  to  ac- 

228 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

count  for  every  pound  of  it  to  the  Food  Com- 
missioners. 

Nor  was  the  flour  turned  loose  after  that.  The 
Food  Centrals  held  it  and  gave  it  directly  to 
the  bakers,  who  meanwhile  had  been  licensed 
to  act  as  distributors  of  bread.  From  so  many 
bags  of  flour  they  had  to  produce  so  many  loaves 
of  bread,  and  since  control  by  means  of  the 
bread-card  coupon  would  have  been  as  impossible 
as  it  was  before,  the  Food  Commissions  assigned 
to  each  bakeshop  so  many  consumers.  The 
bread  cards  were  issued  in  colored  and  numbered 
series.  The  color  indicated  the  week  in  which 
they  were  valid,  while  the  number  indicated  the 
bakeshop  at  which  the  consumer  had  to  get  his 
bread — had  to  get  it  in  the  sense  that  the  baker 
was  responsible  for  the  amount  the  card  called 
for.  The  Food  Central  had  given  the  baker 
the  necessary  flour,  and  he  had  no  excuse  before 
the  law  when  a  consumer  had  cause  for  com- 
plaint. If  there  were  one  thousand  consumers 
assigned  to  a  bakeshop  the  authorities  saw  to  it 
that  the  baker  got  one  thousand  pounds  of  flour, 
and  from  this  one  thousand  loaves  of  bread  had 
to  be  made  and  distributed. 

The  system  worked  like  the  proverbial  charm. 
It  was  known  as  Rayonierung — zonification. 
Within  a  few  days  everybody  managed  to  get 
the  ration  of  bread  allowed  by  the  government. 
The  bread-lines  disappeared  of  a  sudden.  It 
made  no  difference  now  whether  a  woman  called 
for  her  bread  at  eight  in  the  morning  or  at  four 
in  the  afternoon.  Her  bread  card  called  for  a 

16  229 


THE    IRON    RATION 

certain  quantity  of  bread  and  the  baker  was  re- 
sponsible for  that  amount.  It  was  his  duty  to 
see  that  the  consumer  did  not  go  hungry. 

Much  of  the  socio-economic  machine  was  run- 
ning again — not  on  its  old  track,  but  on  a  new  one 
which  the  government  had  laid  for  it.  And  the 
thing  was  so  simple  that  everybody  wondered 
why  it  had  not  been  done  before. 

But  the  greed  of  the  profiteer  was  not  yet 
entirely  foiled.  Bakers  started  to  stretch  the 
flour  into  more  loaves  than  the  law  allowed,  and 
some  of  them  even  went  so  far  as  to  still  turn 
consumers  away.  These  were  to  feel  the  iron 
hand  of  the  government,  however. 

I  remember  the  case  of  a  baker  who  had  been 
in  business  for  thirty  years.  His  conduct  under 
the  new  regulations  had  led  to  the  charge  that 
he  was  diverting  flour,  turned  over  to  him  by  the 
Food  Centrals,  into  illicit  trading  channels.  The 
man  was  found  guilty.  Despite  the  fact  that 
he  had  always  been  a  very  good  citizen  and  had 
been  reasonable  in  prices  even  when  he  had  the 
chance  to  mulct  an  unprotected  public,  he  lost 
his  license.  The  judge  who  tried  the  case  ad- 
mitted that  there  were  many  extenuating  cir- 
cumstances. 

"But  the  time  has  come  when  the  law  must 
be  applied  in  all  its  severity,"  he  said.  "That 
you  have  led  an  honorable  life  in  the  past  will 
not  influence  me  in  the  least.  You  have  obviously 
failed  to  grasp  that  these  are  times  in  which  the 
individual  must  not  do  anything  that  will  cause 
suffering.  There  is  enough  of  that  as  it  is.  I 

230 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

sentence  you  to  a  fine  of  five  thousand  crowns  . 
and  the  loss  of  your  license  to  operate  a  bakery. 
Were  it  not  for  your  gray  hairs  I  would  add  con- 
finement in  prison  with  hard  labor  for  one  year. 
I  wish  the  press  to  announce  that  the  next 
offender,  regardless  of  age  and  reputation,  will 
get  this  limit." 

The  baker  paid  enough  for  the  ten  loaves  he 
had  embezzled.  His  fate  had  a  most  salutary 
effect  upon  others. 

What  bread  is  for  the  adult  milk  is  for  the 
baby.  It,  too,  was  zonified.  The  milk-line  dis- 
appeared. A  card  similar  to  that  governing  the 
distribution  of  bread  was  adopted,  and  dealers 
were  responsible  for  the  quantities  assigned  them. 
The  time  which  mothers  had  formerly  wasted 
standing  in  line  could  now  be  given  to  the  care 
of  the  household,  and  baby  was  benefited  not  a 
little  by  that. 

Simple  and  effective  as  these  measures  were, 
they  could  not  be  extended  to  every  branch  of 
distribution.  In  the  consumption  of  bread, 
milk,  and  fats  known  quantities  could  be  dealt 
with.  What  the  supply  on  hand  was  could  be 
more  or  less  accurately  established,  and  the  ration 
issued  was  the  very  minimum  in  all  cases.  Waste 
from  needless  consumption  was  out  of  the 
question. 

It  was  different  in  other  lines.  The  govern- 
ments wanted  to  save  as  much  food  as  was  pos- 
sible, and  this  could  best  be  done  by  means  of 
the  food-line.  The  line  had  boosted  prices  into 
the  unreasonable  for  the  profiteer,  but  was  now 

231 


THE   IRON   RATION 

used  by  the  several  governments  to  limit  con- 
sumption to  the  strictly  necessary.  To  issue  po- 
tatoes and  other  foods  in  given  quantities  was 
well  enough,  but  not  all  that  could  be  done. 
In  some  cases  half  a  pound  of  potatoes  per  capita 
each  day  was  too  little;  in  others  it  was  too  much, 
though  taken  by  and  large  it  was  a  safe  average 
ration.  The  same  was  true  of  cooking-flour  and 
other  foods.  Those  able  to  buy  meat  and  fish 
stood  in  no  need  of  what  the  government  had  to 
allow  those  who  could  not  include  these  things  in 
their  bill  of  fare.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  im- 
possible to  divide  consumers  into  classes  and 
allow  one  class  a  quarter  of  a  pound  and  another 
half  a  pound  of  potatoes  each  day.  That  would 
have  led  to  confusion  and  waste. 

A  scheme  of  equalization  that  would  leave  un- 
needed  food  in  the  control  of  the  government  be- 
came necessary.  The  food-line  provided  that  in 
a  thorough  manner.  The  woman  not  needing 
food  supplies  on  a  certain  day  was  not  likely 
to  stand  in  a  food-line,  especially  when  the 
weather  was  bad.  She  would  do  with  what  she 
had,  so  long  as  she  knew  that  when  her  supply 
was  exhausted  she  could  get  more.  The  cards 
she  had  would  not  be  good  next  week,  so  that  she 
was  unable  to  demand  what  otherwise  would  have 
been  an  arrear.  The  green  card  was  good  for 
nothing  during  a  week  of  red  cards.  Nor  was 
there  anything  to  be  gained  by  keeping  the 
green  card  in  the  hope  that  some  time  green 
cards  would  again  be  issued  and  honored.  By 
the  time  all  the  color  shades  were  exhausted  the 

232 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

government  changed  the  shape  of  the  card  and 
later  printed  on  its  head  the  number  of  the  week. 

Hoarding  was  out  of  the  question  now.  In 
fact,  the  remaining  private  hoard  began  to  re- 
turn to  the  channels  of  the  legitimate  scheme  of 
distribution.  Those  who  had  stores  of  food  drew 
upon  them,  now  that  the  future  seemed  reason- 
ably assured,  leaving  to  others  what  they  would 
have  called  for  had  the  food-line  been  abolished 
altogether  and  supplies  guaranteed,  as  in  the  case 
of  bread,  milk,  and  fats. 

It  must  not  be  accepted,  however,  that  the 
war-tax  and  war-loan  policy  was  abandoned  in 
favor  of  this  new  scheme.  The  state  was  still 
exacting  its  pound  of  flesh  and  the  officials  were 
too  bureaucratic  to  always  do  the  best  that  could 
be  done.  To  illustrate  the  point  with  a  story, 
I  will  give  here  another  instance  of  how  Emperor 
Charles  interfered  now  and  then. 

He  is  an  early  riser  and  fond  of  civilian  clothing 
— two  things  which  made  much  of  his  work  pos- 
sible. 

He  was  looking  over  the  food-lines  in  the 
Nineteenth  Municipal  District  of  Vienna  one  fine 
morning  in  December  of  1916.  Finally  he  came 
to  a  shop  where  petroleum  was  being  issued. 
The  line  was  long  and  moved  slowly.  Charles 
and  the  "Red  Prince"  wondered  what  the 
trouble  could  be.  They  soon  found  out. 

At  first  the  shopkeeper  resented  the  interest 
the  two  men  were  showing  in  his  business.  He 
wanted  to  see  their  authority  in  black  on  white. 

"That  is  all  right,  my  dear  man!"  said  the 

233 


THE    IRON   RATION 

"Red  Prince."  "This  man  happens  to  be  the 
Emperor." 

The  storekeeper  grew  very  humble  of  a  sudden. 

"It  is  this  way,  your  Majesty,"  he  explained. 
"The  authorities  have  limited  the  allowance  of 
coal-oil  for  each  household  to  one  and  one-half 
liters  [2.14  pints]  .per  week.  This  measuring  ap- 
paratus [a  pump  on  the  petroleum-tank  whose 
descending  piston  drives  the  liquid  into  a  measur- 
ing container]  does  not  show  half -liters,  only  one, 
two,  three,  four,  and  five  whole  liters.  The  cus- 
tomers want  all  they  are  entitled  to,  and  usually 
think  that  I  am  not  giving  them  the  proper  meas- 
ure when  I  guess  at  the  half-liter  between  the 
lines  showing  one  and  two  liters.  To  overcome 
the  grumbling  and  avoid  being  reported  to  the 
authorities  I  am  measuring  the  petroleum  in  the 
old  way  by  means  of  this  half-liter  measure. 
That  takes  time,  of  course.  While  I  am  serving 
one  in  this  manner  I  could  serve  three  if  I  could 
use  the  pump." 

"Do  these  people  have  the  necessary  containers 
for  a  larger  quantity  than  a  liter  and  a  half?" 
asked  the  Emperor. 

"Yes,  your  Majesty,"  replied  the  storekeeper. 
"  Nearly  all  of  them  have  cans  that  hold  five 
liters.  Before  the  war  petroleum  was  always 
bought  in  that  quantity." 

An  hour  afterward  the  burgomaster  of  Vienna, 
Dr.  Weisskirchner,  to  whose  province  the  fuel 
and  light  supply  belonged,  was  called  up  by  the 
Emperor  on  the  telephone. 

The   conversation    was    somewhat   emphatic. 

234 


"GIVE    US   BREAD!" 

The  mayor  felt  that  he  was  elected  by  the  people 
of  Vienna  and  did  not  have  to  take  very  much 
from  the  young  man  whom  accident  had  made 
Emperor.  He  offered  to  resign  if  he  could  not 
be  left  a  free  hand  in  his  own  sphere. 

"You  can  do  that  any  time  you  are  ready!" 
said  the  young  man  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire. 
"But  meanwhile  see  to  it  that  petroleum  in  the 
city  of  Vienna  is  issued  in  lots  of  three  liters 
every  two  weeks.  The  food-line  is  necessary  as 
a  disciplinary  measure  to  prevent  waste,  but  I 
do  not  want  people  to  stand  in  line  when  it  is 
unnecessary.  I  understand  that  nearly  every 
shop  selling  petroleum  uses  these  pumps.  Kindly 
see  to  it  that  they  can  be  used.  Three  liters  in 
two  weeks  will  do  that."  Thereafter  petroleum 
was  so  issued. 

The  case  led  to  a  general  clean-up  in  every  de- 
partment of  food  administration  and  regulation. 
In  a  single  week  more  than  eight  hundred  men 
connected  with  it  were  dismissed  and  replaced. 
And  within  a  month  food  distribution  in  Austria 
and  Hungary  was  on  a  par  with  that  of  Germany. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked,  To  what 
extent  is  the  scarcity  of  food  in  Central  Europe 
the  cause  of  the  ruthless  submarine  warfare? 

Dr.  Arthur  Zimmermann,  the  former  German 
Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  discussed 
that  subject  with  me  several  times  while  I  was 
interviewing  him. 

On  one  occasion  he  was  very  insistent  that 
Germany  would  have  to  shorten  the  war. 
Though  there  was  no  reason  why  in  1916  that 

235 


THE    IRON    RATION 

statement  should  have  seemed  unusual  to  me, 
since  the  Central  European  public  was  thor- 
oughly tired  of  the  war  and  all  it  gave  rise  to,  I 
was  nevertheless  struck  by  the  insistence  whicli 
the  Secretary  of  State  put  into  his  remarks.  I 
framed  a  question  designed  to  give  me  the  infor- 
mation I  needed  to  throw  light  on  this. 

"England  has  been  trying  to  starve  us,"  said 
Mr.  Zimmermann.  "She  has  not  succeeded  so 
far.  In  the  submarine  we  have  an  arm  which, 
as  our  naval  experts  maintain,  is  capable  of  letting 
England  feel  the  war  a  little  more  in  food  mat- 
ters. I  am  not  so  sure  that  it  is  a  good  idea  to 
use  this  weapon  for  that  purpose,  seeing  that  the 
measures  incident  to  its  use  would  have  to  be 
sweeping.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  am  not  for 
a  policy  that  would  make  us  more  enemies.  We 
have  enough  of  them,  God  knows." 

I  may  say  that  this  was  in  a  general  way  the 
policy  of  the  Chancellor,  von  Bethmann-Hollweg. 
I  have  been  reliably  informed  that  even  Emperor 
William  was  at  first  an  opponent  of  the  ruthless- 
submarine-warfare  idea.  Much  of  his  gray  hair 
is  due  to  criticism  heaped  upon  Germany  for  acts 
which  were  thought  justified,  but  which  others 
found  nothing  short  of  outlawry.  He  had  always 
been  very  sensitive  in  matters  of  honor  affecting 
his  person  and  the  nation,  and,  like  so  many  of 
those  around  him,  had  come  to  believe  that 
Germany  and  the  Germans  could  do  no  wrong. 

Emperor  Francis  Joseph  had  been  a  consistent 
opponent  of  the  ruthless  submarine  war.  The 
Ancona  and  Persia  cases,  with  which  I  occupied 

236 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

myself  especially,  convinced  the  old  man  and 
those  near  him  that  a  recourse  to  the  submarine, 
even  if  it  were  to  end  the  war  more  rapidly,  was 
a  double-edged  sword.  The  old  monarch,  more- 
over, did  not  like  the  inhuman  aspects  of  that 
sort  of  war,  whether  they  were  avoidable  or  not. 
He  came  from  an  age  in  which  armies  still  fought 
with  chivalry — when  a  truce  could  be  had  for 
the  asking.  From  his  familiars  I  learned  that 
nothing  pained  the  old  man  more  than  when  a 
civilian  population  had  to  be  evacuated  or  was 
otherwise  subjected  to  hardship  due  to  the  war. 

His  successor,  Emperor  Charles,  held  the  same 
view.  One  has  to  know  him  to  feel  that  he 
would  not  give  willingly  his  consent  to  such  a 
measure  as  the  ruthless  submarine  war.  His 
sympathies  are  nothing  short  of  boyish  in  their 
warmth  and  sincerity.  When  he  ascended  the 
throne,  he  was  an  easy-going,  smart  lieutenant 
of  cavalry  rather  than  a  ruler,  though  the  load 
he  was  to  shoulder  has  ripened  him  in  a  few 
months  into  an  earnest  man. 

In  January  of  1917  Emperor  Charles  went  for 
a  long  visit  to  the  German  general  headquarters 
in  France.  He  was  gone  three  days,  despite  the 
fact  that  he  had  lots  of  work  to  do  at  home  in 
connection  with  the  public-subsistence  problems. 

Connections  informed  me  that  the  submarine 
warfare  was  the  business  which  had  taken  him 
into  the  German  general  headquarters.  Count 
Ottokar  Czernin,  I  learned,  had  also  quietly 
slipped  out  of  town,  as  had  a  number  of  Austro- 
Hungarian  naval  staff  men  and  experts. 

237 


THE    IRON   RATION 

It  was  Count  Czernin  who,  a  few  weeks  later, 
gave  me  an  all-sufficient  insight  into  the  rela- 
tions between  the  ruthless  submarine  warfare 
and  the  food  question. 

It  would  not  have  been  proper,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, to  publish  without  some  words  of 
comment  even  so  detailed  a  statement  as  that 
contained  in  the  joint  German-Austro-Hungarian 
note  announcing  the  advent  of  the  ruthless  sub- 
marine war.  Something  had  to  be  said  to  show 
the  public  why  the  risks  involved  were  being 
taken. 

The  German  public  was  taken  into  the  con- 
fidence of  the  government  in  a  speech  made  by 
Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  in  the  Reichs- 
tag. That  was  a  convenient  method.  In  Austria- 
Hungary  that  way  was  not  open.  The  Reichsrath 
was  not  in  session.  Count  Czernin  decided  that 
I  should  be  the  medium  of  bringing  before  the 
world  why  the  Austro-Hungarian  government 
had  decided  to  adhere  to  Germany's  new  sub- 
marine policy. 

Although  knowing  what  was  coming,  the  actual 
announcement  that  the  crisis  was  here  was 
somewhat  of  a  shock  to  me. 

Count  Czernin  was  seated  at  his  big  mahogany 
roll-top  desk  as  I  entered  the  room.  He  rose  to 
meet  me.  I  noticed  that  there  was  a  very  seri- 
ous expression  on  his  face. 

"We  have  notified  the  neutral  governments, 
and  through  them  our  enemies,  that  the  sub- 
marine war  zone  has  been  extended  and  shipping 
to  Great  Britain  and  her  allies  laid  under  new 

238 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

restrictions,"  said  the  Foreign  Minister,  after  I 
had  taken  a  seat. 

With  that  he  handed  me  a  copy  of  the  note 
diplomatique  with  the  request  that  I  read  it. 
This  done,  he  placed  before  me  a  statement 
which  he  wished  me  to  publish. 

"I  should  like  you  to  publish  that,"  he  said. 
"If  you  don't  care  for  the  text  the  way  it  is  written 
change  it,  but  be  sure  that  you  get  into  your 
own  version  what  I  say  there.  At  any  rate,  you 
will  have  to  translate  the  thing.  Be  kind  enough 
to  let  me  see  it  before  you  telegraph  it." 

I  found  that  the  remarks  of  the  Foreign  Min- 
ister were  a  little  too  formal  and  academic,  and 
said  so.  So  long  as  he  could  afford  to  take  the 
public  of  the  world  into  his  confidence  through 
my  efforts,  I  could  venture  to  suggest  to  him 
how  to  best  present  his  case. 

"I  will  use  the  entire  statement,"  I  said. 
"But  there  is  every  reason  why  it  should  be 
supplemented  by  a  better  picture  of  the  food 
situation  here  in  Austria." 

Count  Czernin  rose  and  walked  toward  a 
corner  of  the  room,  where  on  a  large  table  were 
spread  out  several  maps  executed  in  red  and 
blue.  I  followed  him. 

"These  are  the  charts  the  note  refers  to," 
he  said.  "This  white  lane  has  been  left  open  for 
the  Greeks  and  this  for  the  Americans.  What 
is  your  opinion?" 

My  opinion  does  not  matter  here. 

"Well,  if  the  worst  comes  to  pass,  we  can't 
help  it,"  said  Count  Czernin,  returning  to  his 

£39 


THE    IRON    RATION 

desk.  "We  have  to  use  the  submarine  to  shorten 
the  war.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  being  vic- 
torious at  the  front  and  defeated  at  home.  The 
food  situation  here  is  most  pressing.  Our  people 
are  half  starved  all  the  time.  Babies  perish  by 
the  thousands  because  we  cannot  give  them 
enough  milk.  Unless  this  war  comes  to  an  end 
soon,  the  effects  of  this  chronic  food  shortage 
will  impair  the  health  of  the  entire  nation.  We 
must  try  to  prevent  that.  It  is  our  duty  to  pre- 
vent that  by  all  means. 

"I  grant  that  there  are  certain  technicalities  of 
international  law  involved  here.  But  we  can  no 
longer  regard  them.  It  is  all  very  well  for  some 
men  to  set  themselves  up  as  sole  arbiters  of  in- 
ternational law,  nor  would  we  have  any  objection 
against  that  if  these  arbiters  dealt  as  fairly  with 
one  side  as  they  have  dealt  with  the  other.  But 
they  have  not.  The  Central  governments  could 
not  do  anything  right  for  some  of  their  friends — 
the  American  government  included,  by  the  way — 
if  they  stood  on  their  heads. 

"We  have  made  peace  offers.  I  have  told  you 
several  times  that  we  do  not  want  any  of  our 
enemies'  territory.  We  have  never  let  it  be 
understood  that  we  wanted  so  much  as  a  shovelful 
of  earth  that  does  not  belong  to  us.  At  the  same 
time,  we  do  not  want  to  lose  territory,  nor  do 
we  want  to  pay  a  war  indemnity,  since  this  war 
is  not  of  our  making. 

"We  have  been  willing  to  make  peace  and 
our  offer  has  been  spurned.  The  food  question, 
as  you  know,  is  acute.  We  simply  cannot  raise 

240 


"GIVE   US   BREAD!" 

the  food  we  need  so  long  as  we  must  keep  in  the 
field  millions  of  our  best  farmers.  That  leaves 
but  one  avenue  open.  We  must  shorten  the 
war.  We  believe  that  it  will  be  shortened  by 
the  use  of  the  submarine.  For  that  reason  we 
have  decided  to  use  the  arm  for  that  purpose. 

"I  hope  that  our  calculations  are  correct.  I 
am  no  expert  in  that  field.  I  also  realize  that  a 
whole  flood  of  declarations  of  ;var  may  follow 
our  step.  All  that  has  been  considered,  how- 
ever— even  the  possibility  of  the  United  States 
joining  our  enemies.  At  any  rate,  there  was 
no  way  out.  It  is  all  very  well  for  some  to  say 
what  we  are  to  do  and  are  not  to  do,  but  we  are 
fighting  for  our  very  existence.  To  that  fight 
has  been  added  the  food  shortage,  whose  aspects 
have  never  been  graver  than  now. 

"I  feel  that  I  must  address  myself  especially 
to  the  American  public.  The  American  govern- 
ment has  condemned  us  out  of  court.  I  would 
like  to  have  an  American  jury  hear  this  case. 
The  American  government  has  denied  us  the 
right  of  self-defense  by  taking  the  stand  that  we 
must  not  use  the  submarine  as  a  means  against 
the  enemy  merchant  fleet  and  such  neutral 
shipping  as  supplies  Great  Britain  and  her  allies 
with  foodstuffs." 

Count  Czernin  grew  more  bitter  as  he  pro- 
gressed. He  is  an  able  speaker  even  in  the  Eng- 
lish tongue. 

That  afternoon  I  had  on  the  wires  one  of  the 
greatest  newspaper  stories,  in  point  of  impor- 
tance, that  have  ever  been  despatched. 

241 


THE    IRON   RATION 

I  spoke  to  Count  Stefan  Tisza  on  the  food 
question  and  its  bearing  upon  the  submarine 
warfare.  We  discussed  the  subject  for  almost 
two  hours.  When  the  interview  ended  I  asked 
the  Hungarian  Premier  how  much  of  it  I  could 
use. 

"Just  say  this  much  for  me,"  he  remarked. 
"For  the  United  States  to  enter  the  European 
War  would  be  a  crime  against  humanity." 

That  is  the  shortest  interview  I  ever  made  out 
of  so  long  a  session.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Count 
Tisza  said  enough  for  a  book. 

I  may  say,  however,  that  Count  Tisza  found 
in  the  food  question  whatever  justification  there 
would  be  needed  for  anything  the  Central 
governments  might  do. 

In  Constantinople  I  had  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Dr.  Richard  von  Kuhlmann,  the  present  Ger- 
man Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
Doctor  von  Kuhlmann  was  then  the  conseiller 
of  the  German  embassy  at  that  point.  He  was 
somewhat  of  an  admirer  of  the  British  and  their 
ways,  a  fact  which  later  caused  his  promotion 
to  minister  at  The  Hague.  In  all  things  he 
was  delightfully  objective — one  of  the  few  people 
I  have  met  who  did  not  mistake  their  wishes  and 
desires  for  the  fact. 

•  I  met  Doctor  von  Kuhlmann  again  in  Vienna, 
while  he  was  ambassador  at  Constantinople. 
But  ambassadors  are  not  supposed  to  talk  for 
publication.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Doctor  von 
Kuhlmann  had  not  even  then  made  up  his  mind 
that  recourse  to  the  submarine  warfare  was  the 

242 


"GIVE    US    BREAD!" 

proper  thing  under  the  circumstances,  no  matter 
how  great  the  prospect  of  success  might  ap- 
pear. I  had  found  him  in  Constantinople,  as 
well  as  in  The  Hague,  a  consistent  opponent  of 
the  submarine  as  a  means  against  merchantmen. 
He  was  wholly  opposed  to  the  ruthless  submarine 
warfare,  but  had  no  say  in  the  decision  finally 
reached. 

The  British  Aushungerungspolitik — policy  of 
starvation — was  well  in  the  limelight  in  those 
days.  It  had  been  discussed  in  the  Central  Eu- 
ropean press  ad  nauseam  before.  Now,  however, 
it  was  discussed  from  the  angle  of  actual  achieve- 
ment. Shocking  conditions  were  revealed — they 
were  shocking  to  the  better  classes,  not  to  me, 
for  I  had  spent  many  an  hour  keeping  in  touch 
with  public-subsistence  matters. 

After  all,  this  was  but  a  new  counter-irritant. 
The  Austrian  and  Hungarian  public,  especially, 
did  not  fancy  having  the  United  States  as  an 
enemy.  Though  newspaper  writers  would  be- 
little the  military  importance  of  the  United 
States,  many  of  the  calmer  heads  in  the  popula- 
tion did  not  swallow  that  so  easily.  In  the 
course  of  almost  three  years  of  warfare  the  public 
had  come  to  understand  that  often  the  news- 
papers were  woefully  mistaken,  and  that  some  of 
them  were  in  the  habit  of  purposely  misleading 
their  readers,  a  natural  result  of  a  drastic  censor- 
ship. There  is  no  greater  liar  than  the  censor — 
nor  a  more  dangerous  one.  By  systematically 
suppressing  one  side  of  an  issue  or  thing,  the 
unpleasant  one,  he  fosters  a  deception  in  the 

243 


THE    IRON    RATION 

public  mind  that  is  as  pitiful  to  behold  as  it  is 
stupendous. 

Now  the  conjuncture  was  such,  however,  that 
a  discussion  in  the  newspapers  of  the  hardship 
suffered  and  the  damage  done  by  Great  Britain's 
starvation  blockade  could  not  but  fan  the  Cen- 
tral states  population  into  a  veritable  frenzy. 
The  British  were  to  experience  themselves  what 
it  was  to  go  hungry  day  after  day.  That 
thought  overshadowed  the  possibility  that  the 
United  States  might  soon  be  among  the  open 
enemies  of  the  Central  states.  A  secret  enemy 
the  United  States  had  long  been  regarded. 


XIV 

SUBSISTING  AT  THE  PUBLIC  CRIB 

TO  eat  under  government  supervision  is  not 
pleasant.  It  is  almost  like  taking  the  med- 
icine which  a  physician  has  prescribed.  You  go 
to  the  food  authorities  of  your  district,  prove 
that  you  are  really  the  person  you  pretend  to  be, 
and  thereby  establish  your  claim  to  food,  and 
after  that  you  do  your  best  to  get  that  food. 

Living  at  hotels,  I  was  able  to  let  others  do 
the  worrying.  Each  morning  I  would  find  at 
my  door — provided  nobody  had  stolen  it — my 
daily  ration  of  bread,  of  varying  size — 300 
grams  (10.5  ounces)  in  Germany,  240  grams 
(8.4  ounces)  in  Budapest,  and  210  grams  (7.3 
ounces)  in  Vienna.  At  the  front  I  fared  better, 
for  there  my  allowance  was  400  grams  (14  ounces) 
and  often  more  if  I  cared  to  take  it. 

For  the  other  eatables  I  also  let  the  manager 
worry.  That  worry  was  not  great,  though,  so 
long  as  the  food  "  speak-easy  "  was  in  operation. 
The  hotel  could  afford  to  pay  good  prices,  and 
the  patrons  did  not  mind  if  the  dishes  were  from 
150  to  300  per  cent,  dearer  than  the  law  allowed. 

The  law,  on  the  other  hand,  saw  no  reason  why  it 

17  245 


THE    IRON    RATION 


should  protect  people  who  live  in  hotels — until  it 
was  seen  that  this  policy  was  not  wise  on  account 

of   the  heavy 
Nieder5sterreich.  drafts    it    made 


Tages-Answeis 

fiber  den  Yerbrancb  YOU 

210*  Brot 


Gultjg  nur  am 


1015. 


Verkauf  nur  nacb  Gawicht  99- 
genVorlegung  derAuswelskarte 
und  Abtrennung  elnes  entspre- 
chenden  Abschnittes  zulSssig. 

Nicht  Dbertragbar! 
Sorgftllig  aufbewahren! 
Nachdruck  verboten! 

Strafbestimmungen. 

Zuwiderhandlungen  werden  an  dem 
VerkSufer  wle  an  dem  Klufer  mil 
Geldstrafen  bit  zu  6000  K  Oder  tnit 
Arrest  bis  zu  6  Monaten  geahndet 
Bel  einer  Veiurteilung  kannauf  den 
Verlust  einer  Gewerbeberechtlgung 
erlan.it  werden.  Filscbung  der  Aus- 
weiikarte  wird  nach  dem  Straf- 
8«sctie  bestraft. 


70  g  Brot 


70  i- Brot 


on  the  scant 
stores.  Whether 
a  small  steak 
costs  8  marks  or 
20  makes  no  dif- 
ference to  people 
who  can  afford 
to  eat  steak  at 
8  marks  and 
lamb  cutlets  at 
15.  And  to  these 
people  it  also 
makes  no  differ- 
ence whether 
they  consume 
their  legal  ration 
or  two  such 
rations. 

Many  months 
of  war  passed 
before  that  ele- 
ment began  to 
feel  the  war  at 
all.  But  it  had 
to  come  to  that 
in  the  end. 

Two  people  feeling  the  same  degree  of  hunger 
are  far  better  company  than  two  who  form  oppo- 
site poles  in  that  respect.  Magnetic  positive  and 

246 


ONE  OF  THE  BREAD   CAKDS  USED  IN 
VIENNA  AND  LOWEB  AUSTRIA 


SUBSISTING    AT   THE    PUBLIC    CRIB 


ttertragbai 


tttrtrt«i«T 


unt>  tlacbbarorte. 


negative  never  could  be  so  repellent.  Nor  is 
this  all  one-sided.  One  would  naturally  expect 
that  in  such  a  case  the  underfed  would  harbor 
hard  feelings  toward  the  overfed.  That  is  not 
always  the  case,  however. 

One  day  a  lady  belonging  to  Central  Europe's 
old  nobility  said  to  me: 

"Well,  it  is  getting  worse  every  day.  First 
they  took  my  auto- 
mobiles. Now  they 
have  taken  my  last 
horses.  Taxis  and 
cabs  are  hard  to  get. 
I  have  to  travel  on 
the  street-cars  now. 
It  is  most  annoying." 

I  ventured  the 
opinion  that  street- 
car travel  was  a  tribu- 
lation. The  cars  were 
always  overcrowded. 

"It  is  not  that," 
explained  the  lady. 
"It  is  the  smell." 

"Of  the  unwashed  multitude?" 

"Yes!    And- 

"And,  madame?" 

"Something  else,"  said  the  woman,  with  some 
embarrassment. 

"I  take  it  that  you  refer  to  the  odor  that 
comes  from  underfed  bodies,"  I  remarked. 

"Precisely,"  assented  the  noble  lady.    "Have 
you  also  noticed  it?" 

247 


101* 


Dine  Sirtfullittig  it!  Saturn! 
nngiiltifl. 

flftdfttte    bfadjtcn! 


THE     BREAD    CARD    ISSUED    BY  THE 
FOOD    AUTHORITIES  OF  BERLIN 


THE    IRON    RATION 

"  Have  you  observed  it  recently?"  I  asked. 

"A  few  days  ago.    The  smell  was  new  to  me." 

"Reminded  you,  perhaps,  of  the  faint  odor 
of  a  cadaver  far  off?" 

The  light  of  complete  understanding  came  into 
the  woman's  eyes. 

"Exactly,  that  is  it.  Do  you  know,  I  have 
been  trying  ever  since  then  to  identify  the  odor. 
But  that  is  too  shocking  to  think  of.  And  yet 
you  are  right.  It  is  exactly  that.  How  do  you 
account  for  it?" 

"Malnutrition!  The  waste  of  tissue  due  to 
that  is  a  process  not  wholly  dissimilar  to  the  dis- 
solution which  sets  in  at  death,"  I  explained. 

I  complimented  the  woman  on  her  fine  powers 
of  discernment.  The  smell  was  not  generally 
identified.  I  was  familiar  with  it  for  the  reason 
that  I  had  my  attention  drawn  to  it  first  in 
South  Africa  among  some  underfed  Indian  coo- 
lies, and  later  I  had  detected  it  again  in  Mexico 
among  starving  peons. 

"  Good  God!"  exclaimed  the  lady,  after  a  period 
of  serious  thought.  "  Have  we  come  to  that?" 

I  assured  her  that  the  situation  was  not  as 
alarming  as  it  looked.  In  the  end  the  healthy 
constitution  would  adjust  itself  to  the  shortage 
in  alimentation.  No  fit  adult  would  perish  by 
it,  though  it  would  be  hard  on  persons  over 
fifty  years  of  age.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that 
many  of  them  would  die  of  malnutrition  before 
the  war  was  over.  Babies,  also,  would  cease  to 
live  in  large  numbers  if  their  diet  had  to  be 
similarly  restricted. 

248 


SUBSISTING   AT   THE    PUBLIC    CRIB 

The  smell  had  a  repellent  effect  upon  the 
woman.  I  met  her  many  times  after  that  and 
learned  that  it  was  haunting  her.  Her  desire  to 
keep  it  out  of  her  palatial  residence  caused  her 
to  pay  particular  attention  to  the  food  of  her 
servants.  The  case  was  most  interesting  to  me. 
I  had  sat  for  days  and  nights  in  the  trenches  on 
Gallipoli,  among  thousands  of  unburied  dead,  and 
there  was  little  that  could  offend  my  olfactory 
nerves  after  that,  if  indeed  it  had  been  possible 
before,  seeing  that  I  had  for  many  weary  months 
followed  the  revolutions  in  Mexico.  Thus  im- 
mune to  the  effects  of  the  condition  in  question, 
I  was  able  to  watch  closely  a  very  interesting 
psychological  phenomenon. 

I  found  that  it  was  torture  for  the  woman  to 
get  near  a  crowd  of  underfed  people.  She  began 
to  shrink  at  their  very  sight. 

*'I  take  it  that  you  fear  death  very  much, 
madame,"  I  said,  one  day. 

"I  dread  the  very  thought  of  it,"  was  the  frank 
reply. 

"But  why  should  you?"  I  asked.  "It  is  a 
perfectly  natural  condition." 

"But  an  unjust  one,"  came  the  indignant 
answer. 

"Nothing  in  nature  is  unjust,"  I  said.  "Nat- 
ure knows  neither  right  nor  wrong.  If  she  did, 
she  would  either  cease  to  produce  food  alto- 
gether for  your  people  and  state,  or  she  would 
produce  all  the  more — if  war  can  be  laid  at  the 
door  of  nature  in  arguments  of  right  and 
wrong." 

249 


THE    IRON    RATION 

"But  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  smell 
— that  awful  smell,"  insisted  the  woman. 

"It  has  not,  to  be  sure.  Our  conversation 
was  side-tracked  by  your  remark  that  death 
was  an  unjust  natural  condition.  Your  words 
show  that  you  are  living  in  illusions.  You  have 
an  inherent  loathing  for  the  underfed,  because 
your  instincts  associate  the  smell  of  their  bodies 
with  dissolution  itself.  But  you  are  not  the  only 
one  so  affected.  Thousands  of  others  feel  the 
same  discomfiture." 

The  long  and  short  of  the  discussion  was  that 
I  proved  to  my  own  satisfaction  that  the  woman 
was  one  of  those  self -centered  creatures  to  whom 
pity  is  merely  known  as  a  noun.  I  suggested 
discreetly  that  a  little  more  sympathy  for  the 
afflicted,  a  little  more  love  for  her  kind,  would 
prove  a  first-class  deodorant. 

Let  us  examine  what  the  diet  of  the  Central 
states  population  then  was.  In  doing  this,  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  rural  population, 
always  at  the  fountainhead  of  food,  fared  much 
better.  The  conditions  pictured  are  essentially 
those  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  towns  and 
cities. 

The  adult,  after  rising  in  the  morning,  would 
drink  a  cup  or  two  of  some  substitute  for  coffee, 
or  very  bad  tea,  without  milk,  if  there  were 
children,  and  with  very  little  sugar.  With  this 
would  be  eaten  a  third  of  the  day's  ration  of 
bread,  about  two  and  one-half  ounces.  That 
meal  had  to  suffice  until  noon,  when  a  plate  of 
soup,  a  slice  of  bread,  two  ounces  of  meat,  and 

250 


SUBSISTING    AT   THE    PUBLIC    CRIB 

two  ounces  of  vegetables  were  taken,  to  be  sup- 
plemented by  a  small  quantity  of  farinaceous 
food  in  the  form  of  some  pudding  or  cake.  A 
cup  of  coffee  substitute  would  go  with  this  meal. 
At  four  in  the  afternoon  another  cup  of  substi- 
tute coffee  or  poor  tea  would  be  taken  by  those 
who  could  afford  it,  usually  together  with  cake 
equal  to  a  half -ounce  of  wheat  flour  and  a  quarter- 
ounce  of  sugar.  The  evening  meal  would  be  the 
same  as  dinner,  without  soup  and  pudding,  a  lit- 
tle cheese  and  the  remaining  seventy  grams  of 
bread  taking  their  place.  As  a  rule,  a  glass  of 
beer  was  drunk  with  this.  But  the  nutritive 
value  of  that  was  small  now.  It  was  more  a 
chemical  than  a  malt  product,  and  contained  at 
best  but  4  per  cent,  of  alcohol. 

That  was  the  meal  allowed  by  the  government. 
Those  who  had  the  opportunity  never  allowed 
themselves  to  be  satisfied  with  it.  But  the 
vast  majority  of  people  received  that  and  nothing 
more,  especially  later  when  fish  and  fruit  had 
soared  skyward  in  price. 

A  chemical  analysis  of  this  bill  of  fare  would 
probably  show  that  it  was  ample  to  sustain  hu- 
man life.  Some  American  food  crank  might  even 
discover  that  there  was  a  little  to  spare.  But 
the  trouble  is  that  often  the  scientific  ration  is 
compounded  by  persons  who  lead  an  inactive 
life  and  who  at  best  make  exercise  the  purpose 
of  special  study  and  effort.  The  bulk  of  any 
population,  however,  must  work  hard,  and  must 
eat  more  if  elimination  is  not  to  exceed  assimi- 
lation. 

251 


THE    IRON    RATION 


The  food  scientist  has  his  value.  But  he  gen- 
erally overestimates  that  value  himself.  Thus  it 
happened  that  the  Central  states  governments 
were  soon  obliged  to  allow  a  larger  ration  of 
bread,  sugar,  and  fat  to  all  persons  engaged  in 
heavy  labor.  At  first  this  was  overlooked  here 
and  there,  and,  bureaucratism  being  still  strong 
then,  strikes  were  necessary  to  persuade  the 


per  Rat  zu  Dres&en. 

Bezugskarte  fur  *h  kg  (Va  Ptt.) 

Butter  ooer  Margarine 

ko5er  Speisefett  oder. 

Kunstspeisefett 

in  derZeit  vom  30. 1 1.  bis  27. 12. 15. 


Oer  Rat  zu  Dfetden. 


Bezugskarte  fur '/.»  kg  ('/»  P».) 

Butter  Oder  Margarin* 

Oder  Speisefett  oder 

Kunstspeisefett 

in  der  Zeit  vom  30. 1 1 .  bis  27. 12. 15. 


Per  Ra<  zu  t>res8en< 


15 

Dezuoskarle  fur  V*  kg  (V»  PH>.) 

Butter  oder  Margarine 

voder  Speisefett  o6er 

Kunstspeisefett 

in  der  Zeit  vom  30. 1 1.  bis  27. 12. 15. 


Der  Rat  zu  Dresden. 


Bezugskarte  fur  1U  bg  (V«  PI&.) 

Butter  oder  Margarine 

oder  Speisefett  oder 

Kunstspeisefett 

in  der  Zeit  vom  30. 1 1.  bis  27. 12. 15. 


THE   BUTTER   AND    FAT   CARD    OF   DRESDEN 

governments  to  meet  the  reasonable  demands  of 
the  hard-labor  classes. 

Scant  as  this  daily  fare  was,  it  was  not  every- 
body who  could  add  to  it  the  allowance  of  meat. 
The  unskilled  laborer,  for  instance,  did  not  earn 
enough  to  buy  beef  at  from  sixty  to  seventy- 
five  cents  American  a  pound,  the  cheapest  cut 
being  sold  at  that  price.  As  a  rule,  he  tried  to 
get  the  small  quantity  of  animal  fat,  lard,  suet, 
or  tallow  which  the  authorities  allowed  him. 
But  often  he  failed  to  get  it.  Potato  soup  and 

252 


SUBSISTING    AT    THE    PUBLIC    CRIB 

bread,  and  maybe  a  little  pudding,  would  in  that 
case  make  up  the  meal.  If  luck  had  been  good 
there  might  also  be  a  little  jam  or  some  dried 
fruit  to  go  into  the  "pudding,"  which  other- 
wise would  be  just  plain  wheat  flour,  of  which 
each  family  was  then  given  five  ounces  daily. 
If  there  were  children  to  take  care  of,  the  wheat 
flour  had  to  be  left  to  them,  for  the  reason  that 


_       CIS.  9ir. 


Sot-  u.  3uname:  .    --  •  --  •  -  -SlwieSr.  —  • 

Iffifdjfarfe  ftir  .ffillenbe  Ulftffer  unb  iiranfe 

QUfig  fur  ben  JTTonal  JJoocmbec  1915 

D"  Sntabtr  tlefer  Xattt  Ifl  aulrenb  Set  •  ulligteittbawr  bm^tlf.  <""  •>""  ttttdttt  SM« 
Idle  Itjt'tiniua  Oe|4ifu  ter 

ntrierd  3-  5<&mi5f  Sdfjne 

jam  JJrtlU  oon  28  JJf.  loglid)  1  Ciltc  Dal  [mi  I  4  ja  bejlefjtit 

Die  lint  Id  an  j.S<m  tc  je  beim  Haul  bef  Wl«  Dcrjulrgen  ur.  J  islib  unit  erf  olgtet  >ii<«tM 
»er  Siild)  ttiritla^l. 

Din  legten  Suliljttiwojj  1(1  tie  8'rte  gejen  Umttnil4  elntr  Muen  tgrte  In  ten  9HI4cel4>i|ten 
juruitjvtiten  6lnt  tie  Sotcu»;<t«r.iin  |ul  tk  Scte^rtjunj  l<i  SII<teMna(me  loltgelaDen.  Diet  Mt 
Harte  elnfli  jo^in 


jje»r«iu.»« 


10   11    12    13    14   15   16   17   18    19   20   2t   22 


MILK  CARD   ISSUED  TO  NURSING  MOTHERS   AND  THE   SICK  AT 
NEUKOLLN,   A   SUBURB   OF  BERLIN 


the  quantity  of  milk  allowed  them  was  entirely 
too  small,  amounting  In  the  case  of  children  from 
three  to  four  years  to  seven-eighths  of  a  pint 
daily,  with  1.76  pints  the  limit  for  any  infant. 

Even  this  fare  might  have  been  bearable  had 
it  been  supplemented  by  the  usual  amount  of 
sugar.  In  the  past  this  had  been  as  much  as 
six  pounds  per  month  and  person ;  now  the  regu- 
lations permitted  the  consumption  of  only  2.205 

253 


THE    IRON   RATION 

pounds  per  month  and  capita  for  the  urban  and 
1.65  pounds  for  the  rural  population,  while  per- 
sons engaged  at  hard  labor  were  allowed  2.75 
pounds.  Parents  who  were  willing  to  surrender 
all  to  their  children  went  without  sugar  entirely. 
How  these  victuals  were  obtained  by  the 
woman  of  the  household  has  already  been  indi- 
cated. Heretofore  it  had  been  necessary  to 
stand  in  line  for  bread,  fat,  and  milk,  the  latter 
two  being  usually  obtained  simultaneously  at  the 
Fat  Central.  The  establishing  of  food  zones — 
Rayons — had  obviated  that.  The  measure  was  a 
great  relief,  but  since  it  governed  no  more  than 
the  distribution  of  these  articles,  much  standing 
in  line  was  still  necessary.  The  disciplinary 
value  of  the  food-line  was  still  kept  in  mind  in 
the  distribution  of  potatoes,  beets  (Wruckeri), 
wheat  flour;  now  and  then  other  cereal  products, 
such  as  macaroni,  biscuits,  buckwheat  flour,  and 
oatmeal;  meat  when  the  city  distributed  it  at 
or  below  cost  price;  fuel,  coal-oil,  sugar,  and  all 
groceries;  soap  and  washing-powder;  shoes,  cloth- 
ing, textiles  of  any  sort,  thread,  and  tobacco. 
Now  and  then  dried  fruits  would  be  distributed, 
and  occasionally  jam,  though  with  the  ever- 
increasing  shortage  in  sugar  little  fruit  was  being 
preserved  in  that  manner.  Once  a  week  the 
solitary  egg  per  capita  would  have  to  be  waited 
for.  One  egg  was  not  much  to  waste  hours  for, 
and  usually  people  did  not  deem  it  worth  while 
to  claim  it,  if  they  had  no  children.  The  woman 
who  had  children  was  glad,  however,  to  get  the 
four,  five,  or  six  eggs  to  which  her  family  was 

254 


SUBSISTING   AT   THE    PUBLIC   CRIB 

entitled.  It  might  mean  that  the  youngest 
would  be  able  to  get  an  egg  every  other  day. 
Such,  indeed,  was  the  intention  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  such  was  the  purpose  of  the  food-line. 
It  would  happen  now  and  then  that  there  were 
so  many  who  did  not  claim  their  weekly  egg  that 
the  woman  with  children  got  a  double  ration! 

For  many  of  these  things  certain  days  had 
been  set  aside.  Potatoes  could  be  drawn  every 
other  day,  for  instance,  while  wheat  flour  was 
issued  every  fourth  day,  meat  on  all  "meat" 
days,  fuel  once  a  week,  petroleum  every  two 
weeks,  and  sugar  once  a  month.  Shoes  and  cloth- 
ing were  issued  only  after  the  Clothing  Central 
had  been  satisfied  that  they  were  needed.  It 
was  the  same  with  thread,  except  silk  thread, 
and  with  tobacco  one  took  a  chance.  Other  ar- 
ticles were  distributed  when  they  were  avail- 
able, a  notice  of  the  date  being  posted  near  some 
shop  where  the  food-liners  could  see  it.  The 
arrival  of  "municipal"  beef  and  pork  was  gen- 
erally advertised  in  the  newspapers. 

In  this  manner,  then,  was  the  government 
ration  obtained.  To  it  could  be  added  fresh, 
salted,  and  dried  fish,  when  available,  and  all 
the  green  vegetables  and  salads  one  wanted — 
peas  and  beans  in  season;  in  their  dry  form  they 
were  hard  to  get  at  any  time.  For  a  while,  also, 
sausage  could  be  bought  without  a  ticket.  The 
government  put  a  stop  to  that  when  it  was  found 
that  much  illicit  trading  was  done  with  that 
class  of  food. 

Many  hours  were  wasted  by  the  women  of 

255 


THE    IRON   RATION 

the  household  in  the  course  of  a  month  by 
standing  in  line.  The  newspapers  conducted 
campaigns  against  this  seemingly  heartless  policy 
of  the  food  authorities,  but  without  result.  The 
food-line  was  looked  upon  as  essential  in  food 
conservation,  as  indeed  it  was.  In  the  course 
of  time  it  had  been  shown  that  people  would 
call  for  food  allotted  them  by  their  tickets, 
whether  they  needed  it  or  not,  and  would  then 
sell  it  again  with  a  profit.  To  assure  everybody 
of  a  supply  in  that  manner  would  also  lead  to 
waste  in  consumption.  Those  who  did  not  ab- 
solutely need  all  of  their  ration  did  not  go  to 
the  trouble  of  standing  in  a  food-line  for  hours 
in  all  sorts  of  weather. 

Subsisting  at  the  public  crib  was  unpleasant 
business  under  such  conditions,  but  there  was 
no  way  out.  The  food  "  speak-easy  "  was  almost 
as  much  a  thing  of  the  past  as  was  the  groaning 
board  of  ante-bellum  times,  though  it  was  by 
no  means  entirely  eradicated,  as  the  trial  of  a 
small  ring  of  food  sharks  in  Berlin  on  October 
10,  1917,  demonstrated.  How  hard  it  was  for 
the  several  governments  to  really  eradicate  the 
illicit  trading  in  food,  once  this  had  been  de- 
cided upon,  was  shown  in  this  case,  which  in- 
volved one  of  the  largest  caches  ever  discovered. 
There  wer3  hidden  in  this  cache  27,000  pounds  of 
wheat  flour,  300  pounds  of  chocolate,  15,000 
pounds  of  honey,  40,000  cigars,  and  52,000 
pounds  of  copper,  tin,  and  brass.  The  odd  part 
of  the  case  was  that  to  this  hoard  belonged  also 
24  head  of  cattle  and  9  pigs. 

256 


SUBSISTING    AT   THE    PUBLIC    CRIB 

On  the  same  day  there  was  tried  in  a  Berlin 
jury  court  a  baker  who  had  "saved"  6,500  pounds 
of  flour  from  the  amounts  which  the  food  authori- 
ties had  turned  over  to  him.  It  was  shown  that 
the  baker  had  sold  the  loaves  of  bread  he  was 
expected  to  bake  from  the  flour.  Of  course  he 
had  adulterated  the  dough  to  make  the  loaves 
weigh  what  the  law  required  and  what  the 
bread  tickets  called  for.  A  fine  profit  had  been 
made  on  the  flour.  The  food  authorities  had 
assigned  him  the  supply  at  $9  for  each  200- 
pound  bag.  Some  of  it  he  sold  illicitly  at  $55 
per  sack  to  a  man  who  had  again  sold  it  for  $68 
to  another  chain-trader,  who  later  disposed  of  it 
to  a  consumer  for  $80  a  bag.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  this  flour  made  expensive  bread, 
but  it  seems  that  there  were  people  willing  to 
pay  the  price. 

But  forty  cents  for  a  pound  of  wheat  flour  was 
something  which  only  a  millionaire  war  purveyor 
could  afford.  All  others  below  that  class,  ma- 
terially, ate  the  government  ration  and  stood  in 
line. 

Sad  in  the  extreme  was  the  spectacle  which 
the  food-lines  in  the  workman  quarters  of  Berlin, 
Vienna,  and  Budapest  presented.  Upon  the 
women  of  the  households  the  war  was  being 
visited  hardest.  To  see  a  pair  of  good  shoes  on  a 
woman  came  to  be  a  rare  sight.  Skirts  were 
worn  as  long  as  the  fabric  would  keep  together, 
and  little  could  be  said  of  the  shawls  that  draped 
pinched  faces,  sloping  shoulders,  and  flat  breasts. 
There  were  children  in  those  food-lines.  Thin 

257 


THE    IRON    RATION 

feet  stuck  in  the  torn  shoes,  and  mother's 
shawl  served  to  supplement  the  hard-worn  dress 
or  patched  suit.  Everything  had  to  go  for  food, 
and  prices  of  apparel  were  so  high  that  buying 
it  was  out  of  the  question. 

Once  I  set  out  for  the  purpose  of  finding  in 
these  food-lines  a  face  that  did  not  show  the 
ravages  of  hunger.  That  was  in  Berlin.  Four 
long  lines  were  inspected  with  the  closest  scru- 
tiny. But  among  the  three  hundred  applicants 
for  food  there  was  not  one  who  had  had  enough 
to  eat  in  weeks.  In  the  case  of  the  younger 
women  and  the  children  the  skin  was  drawn 
hard  to  the  bones  and  bloodless.  Eyes  had 
fallen  deeper  into  the  sockets.  From  the  lips 
all  color  was  gone,  and  the  tufts  of  hair  that 
fell  over  parchmented  foreheads  seemed  dull  and 
famished — sign  that  the  nervous  vigor  of  the 
body  was  departing  with  the  physical  strength. 

I  do  not  think  sentimentalism  of  any  sort 
can  be  laid  at  my  door.  But  I  must  confess  that 
these  food-lines  often  came  near  getting  the  best 
of  me.  In  the  end  they  began  to  haunt  me,  and 
generally  a  great  feeling  of  relief  came  over  me 
when  I  saw  that  even  the  last  of  a  line  received 
what  they  had  come  for. 

The  poorer  working  classes  were  not  getting 
enough  food  under  the  system,  nor-  were  they 
always  able  to  prepare  the  little  they  got  in 
the  most  advantageous  manner.  While  the 
effort  had  been  made  to  instruct  women  how 
to  get  the  maximum  of  nutriment  from  any 
article,  and  how  to  combine  the  allowances  into 

258 


SUBSISTING    AT    THE    PUBLIC    CRIB 

a  well-balanced  ration,  results  in  that  direction 
were  not  satisfying.  Many  of  the  women  would 
spend  too  much  money  on  vegetable  foods  that 
filled  the  stomach  but  did  not  nourish.  Others 
again,  when  a  few  extra  cents  came  into  their 
hands,  would  buy  such  costly  things  as  geese 
and  other  fowl.  Cast  adrift  upon  an  ocean  of 
food  scarcity  and  high  prices,  these  poor  souls 
were  utterly  unable  to  depart  from  their  cooking 
methods,  which  had  tastiness  rather  than  greatest 
utility  for  their  purpose.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  ration,  which  according  to  food  experts 
was  ample,  proved  to  be  anything  but  that. 

In  Berlin  the  so-called  war  kitchens  were  in- 
troduced. A  wheeled  boiler,  such  as  used  by 
the  army,  was  the  principal  equipment  of  these 
kitchens.  Very  palatable  stews  were  cooked  in 
them  and  then  distributed  from  house  to  house 
against  the  requisite  number  of  food-card  checks. 
The  innovation  would  have  been  a  success  but 
for  the  fact  that  most  people  believed  they 
were  not  getting  enough  for  the  coupons  they 
had  surrendered.  The  stew  could  not  be  weighed, 
and  often  there  would  be  a  little  more  meat  in 
one  dipperful  than  in  another.  There  was 
grumbling,  and  finally  the  women  who  were 
giving  their  time  and  labor  to  the  war  kitchens 
were  accused  of  partiality.  The  kitchens  were 
continued  a  while  longer.  They  finally  disap- 
peared because  nobody  cared  to  patronize  them 
any  more.  It  is  possible,  also,  that  people  had 
grown  tired  of  the  stew  eternal. 

The  Volkskuchen— people's  kitchens — and  those 

259 


THE   IRON   RATION 

war  kitchens  which  were  established  when  the 
war  began,  operated  with  more  success.  The 
public  was  used  to  them.  They  were  located  in 
buildings,  so  that  one  could  eat  the  food  there 
and  then,  and  their  bill  of  fare  was  not  limited 
to  stews.  Being  managed  by  trained  people, 
these  kitchens  rendered  splendid  service  to  both 
the  public  and  the  food-regulators.  I  have 
eaten  in  several  of  them  and  found  that  the 
food  was  invariably  good. 

A  class  that  had  been  hit  hard  by  the  war 
was  that  of  the  small  office-holders  and  the  less 
successful  professionals,  artists  included.  They 
were  a  proud  lot — rather  starve  than  eat  at  a 
war  kitchen  or  accept  favors  from  any  one.  The 
hardships  they  suffered  are  almost  indescribable. 
While  the  several  governments  had  made  their 
small  officials  a  war  allowance,  the  addition  to 
the  income  which  that  gave  was  almost  negligible. 
At  an  average  it  represented  an  increase  in  sal- 
ary of  20  per  cent.,  while  food,  and  the  decencies 
of  life,  which  this  class  found  as  indispensable 
as  the  necessities  themselves,  had  gone  up  to  an 
average  of  180  per  cent.  The  effect  of  this  rise 
was  catastrophic  in  these  households.  Before  the 
war  their  life  had  been  the  shabby  genteel;  it  was 
now  polite  misery.  Yet  the  class  was  one  of  the 
most  essential  and  deserved  a  better  fate.  In 
it  could  be  found  some  of  the  best  men  and 
women  in  Central  Europe. 

Devoted  to  the  regime  with  heart  and  soul, 
this  class  had  never  joined  in  any  numbers  the 
co-operative  consumption  societies  of  Germany 

260 


Photograph  from  Henry  Ruschin 

TRAVELING-KITCHEN   IN   BERLIN 

A  food-conservation  measure  that  failed,  because  the  people  grew  tired  of  the  stew 
dispensed  by  the  "Food  Transport  Wagon." 


Photograph  from  Henry  Ruschin 

STREET   TRAM   AS   FREIGHT   CARRIER 

As  horses  and  motor  fuel  became  scarce  the  street  traction  systems  were  given   over 
part  of  each  day  to  transporting  merchandise. 


SUBSISTING   AT   THE   PUBLIC    CRIB 

•  > 

and  Austria-Hungary,  because  of  their  social- 
istic tendencies.  This  delivered  them  now  into 
the  hands  of  the  food  shark.  Finally,  the  sev- 
eral governments,  realizing  that  the  small  official 
— Beamte — had  to  be  given  some  thought,  es- 
tablished purchasing  centrals  for  them,  where 
food  could  be  had  at  cost  and  now  and  then 
below  cost.  Nothing  of  the  sort  was  done  for 
the  small  professionals,  however. 

Men  and  women  of  means  came  to  the  rescue 
of  that  class  in  the  very  nick  of  time.  But  a 
great  deal  of  tact  had  to  be  used  before  these 
war  sufferers  could  be  induced  to  accept  help. 
It  was  not  even  easy  to  succor  them  privately, 
as  Mrs.  Frederick  C.  Penfield,  wife  of  the  Amer- 
ican ambassador  at  Vienna,  had  occasion  enough 
to  learn.  To  alleviate  their  condition  en  masse, 
as  would  have  to  be  done  if  the  means  available 
were  to  be  given  their  greatest  value,  was  almost 
impossible.  Shabby  gentility  is  nine-tenths  false 
pride,  and  nothing  is  so  hard  to  get  rid  of  as  the 
things  that  are  false. 

But  there  were  those  who  understand  the  class. 
Among  them  I  must  name  Frau  Doctor  Schwarz- 
wald,  of  Vienna,  whose  co-operative  dining- 
room  was  a  great  success,  so  long  as  she  could 
get  the  necessary  victuals,  something  that  was 
not  always  easy. 

I  had  taken  a  mild  interest  in  the  charities 
and  institutions  of  Frau  Schwarzwald,  and  once 
came  near  getting  a  barrel  of  flour  and  a  hundred 
pounds  of  sugar  for  the  co-operative  dining- 
room  and  its  frayed  patrons.  I  announced  the 

18  261 


THE    IRON   RATION 

fact  prematurely  at  a  gathering  of  the  patron 
angels  of  the  dining-room,  among  whom  was 
Frau  Cary-Michaelis,  the  Danish  novelist  and 
poetess.  Before  I  knew  what  was  going  on  the 
enthusiastic  patron  angels  had  each  kissed  me 
— on  the  cheek,  of  course.  Then  they  danced 
for  joy,  and  next  day  I  was  forced  to  announce 
that,  after  all,  there  would  be  no  flour  and  no 
sugar.  The  owner  of  the  goods — not  a  food 
shark,  but  an  American  diplomatist — had  dis- 
posed of  them  to  another  American  diplomatist. 
I  thought  it  best  to  do  penance  for  this.  So  I 
visited  a  friend  of  mine  and  held  him  up  for 
one  thousand  crowns  for  the  co-operative  dining- 
room.  That  saved  me.  I  was  very  careful  there- 
after not  to  make  rash  promises.  After  all,  I  was 
sure  of  the  flour  and  sugar,  and  so  happy  over 
my  capture  that  I  had  a  hard  time  keeping  to 
myself  the  glad  news  as  long  as  I  did,  which  was 
one  whole  day.  In  that  dining-room  ate  a  good 
percentage  of  Vienna's  true  intellectuals — paint- 
ers, sculptors,  architects,  poets,  and  writers  all 
unable  just  then  to  earn  a  living. 

I  was  not  always  so  unsuccessful,  however. 
For  another  circle  of  down-at-the-heels  I  smug- 
gled out  of  the  food  zone  of  the  Ninth  German 
Army  in  Roumania  the  smoked  half  of  a  pig, 
fifty  pounds  of  real  wheat  flour,  and  thirty 
pounds  of  lard.  Falkenhayn  might  command 
that  army  at  the  front,  but  for  several  days  I 
was  its  only  hero,  nevertheless.  But  in  food 
matters  I  had  proved  a  good  buscalero  before. 

The  food  craze  was  on.     Women  who  never 

262 


SUBSISTING    AT   THE    PUBLIC    CRIB 

before  in  their  lives  had  talked  of  food  now 
spoke  of  that  instead  of  fashions.  The  gossip 
of  the  salon  was  abandoned  in  favor  of  the 
dining-room  scandals.  So-and-so  had  eaten  meat 
on  a  meatless  day,  and  this  or  that  person  was 
having  wheat  bread  and  rolls  baked  by  the 
cook.  The  interesting  part  of  it  was  that  usu- 
ally the  very  people  who  found  fault  with  such 
trespass  did  the  same  thing,  but  were  careful 
enough  not  to  have  guests  on  that  day. 

In  the  same  winter  I  was  to  see  at  Budapest 
an  incident  that  fitted  well  into  the  times. 

I  was  one  of  the  few  non-Magyars  who  at- 
tended the  coronation  dinner  of  King  Charles  and 
Queen  Zita. 

The  lord  chief  steward  brought  in  a  huge  fish 
on  a  golden  platter  and  set  it  down  before  the 
royal  couple.  The  King  and  Queen  bowed  to 
the  gorgeously  attired  functionary,  who  there- 
upon withdrew,  taking  the  fish  with  him. 

We  all  got  the  smell  of  it.  I  had  eaten  break- 
fast at  four  in  the  morning.  Now  it  was  two 
in  the  afternoon  and  a  morsel  of  something 
would  have  been  very  much  in  order.  Since 
seven  I  had  been  in  the  coronation  church.  It 
was  none  too  well  heated  and  I  remember  how 
the  cold  went  through  my  dress  shirt.  But  the 
fish  disappeared — to  be  given  to  the  poor,  as 
King  Stefan  had  ordained  in  the  year  A.D.  1001. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  lord  chief  steward — I 
think  that  is  the  man's  title — reappeared.  This 
time  he  carried  before  him  a  huge  roast.  (Busi- 
ness as  before.)  For  a  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and 

363 


THE    IRON    RATION 

sixth  time  the  high  functionary  paraded  en- 
ticing victuals  through  the  hall  without  coming 
down  to  business.  It  was  a  lonesome  affair, 
that  dinner,  and  everybody  was  glad  when  the 
King  had  taken  a  sip  of  wine  and  the  cries  of, 
"Eljen  a  kiralyi,"  put  a  period  to  that  phase  of 
the  coronation. 

How  well  that  ceremony  fitted  into  the  times! 

King  Charles  wanted  to  be  impartial,  and  a 
few  days  later  he  inspected  the  dining-car  at- 
tached to  the  train  that  was  to  take  his  brother 
Maximilian  to  Constantinople.  In  the  kitchen 
of  the  car  he  found  some  rolls  and  some  wheat 
flour.  He  had  them  removed. 

"I  know,  Max,  that  you  didn't  order  these 
things,"  he  said  to  his  brother.  "The  dining-car 
management  has  not  yet  come  to  understand 
that  no  favors  must  be  shown  anybody.  If  the 
steward  of  the  car  should  by  any  chance  buy 
flour  in  Bulgaria  or  Turkey,  do  me  the  favor  to 
pitch  him  out  of  the  window  when  the  car  is 
running,  so  that  he  will  fall  real  hard.  That  is 
the  only  way  in  which  we  can  make  a  dent  into 
special  eating  privileges." 

By  the  way,  there  was  a  time  when  the  present 
Emperor-King  of  Austria-Hungary  and  his  Em- 
press-Queen had  to  live  on  a  sort  of  sandwich 
income,  and  were  glad  when  the  monthly  allow- 
ance from  the  archducal  exchequer  was  increased 
a  little  when  the  present  crown-prince  was  born. 

But  that  is  another  story. 


XV 

THE   WEAR   AND   TEAR   OF  WAR 

IT  never  rains  but  it  pours. 
It  was  so  in  Central  Europe.  Not  alone 
had  the  production  of  food  by  the  soil  been  ham- 
strung by  the  never-ending  mobilizations  of 
labor  for  military  purposes,  but  the  means  of 
communication  began  to  fail  from  the  same  cause. 

If  it  takes  a  stitch  in  time  to  save  nine  in 
ordinary  walks  of  life,  it  takes  a  stitch  in  time 
to  save  ninety,  and  often  all,  in  railroading. 
The  improperly  ballasted  tie  means  too  great 
a  strain  in  the  fish-plate.  It  may  also  mean  a 
fractured  rail.  Both  may  lead  to  costly  train 
wrecks. 

But  the  makeshifts  employed  in  Central  Eu- 
rope averted  much  of  this.  Where  the  regular 
track  gangs  had  been  depleted  by  the  mobiliza- 
tions, women  and  Russian  prisoners-of-war  took 
their  places.  But  the  labor  of  these  was  not  as 
good  as  that  given  by  the  old  hands.  There  is  a 
knack  even  in  pushing  crushed  rock  under  a 
railroad  tie.  Under  one  tie  too  much  may  be 
placed  and  not  enough  under  another,  so  that 
the  very  work  that  is  to  keep  the  rail-bed  evenly 

265 


THE   IRON   RATION 

supported  may  result  in  an  entirely  different 
state  of  affairs.  Two  ties  lifted  up  too  much  by 
the  ballasting  may  cause  the  entire  rail  to  be 
unevenly  supported,  so  that  it  would  have  been 
better  to  leave  the  work  undone  altogether. 

Thus  it  came  that  all  railroad  traffic  had  to 
be  reduced  in  speed.  Expresses  were  discontinued 
on  all  lines  except  the  trunk  routes  that  were 
kept  in  fairly  good  condition  for  that  very  pur- 
pose. Passenger-trains  ran  20  miles  an  hour  in- 
stead of  40  and  45,  and  freight-trains  had  their 
schedules  reduced  to  12.  That  meant,  of  course, 
that  with  the  same  motive  power  and  rolling 
stock  about  half  the  normal  traffic  could  be 
maintained. 

But  that  was  not  all.  The  maintenance  de- 
partments of  rolling  stock  and  motive  power 
had  also  been  obliged  to  furnish  their  quota  of 
men  for  service  in  the  field.  At  first  the  several 
governments  did  not  draw  heavily  on  the 
mechanicians  in  the  railroad  service,  but  ulti- 
mately they  had  to  do  this.  The  repair  work 
was  done  by  men  less  fitted,  and  cleaning  had  to 
be  left  to  the  women  and  prisoners-of-war. 

Soon  the  "flat"  wheels  were  many  on  the 
air-braked  passenger-cars.  It  came  to  be  a 
blessing  that  the  freight-trains  were  still  being 
braked  by  hand,  for  otherwise  freight  traffic 
would  have  suffered  more  than  it  did. 

I  took  some  interest  in  railroading,  and  a 
rather  superficial  course  in  it  at  the  military 
academy  had  made  me  acquainted  with  a  few 
of  its  essentials.  Close  attention  to  the  question 

266 


THE  WEAR  AND  TEAR  OF  WAR 

in  the  fall  of  1916  gave  me  the  impression  that 
it  would  not  be  long  before  the  only  thing  of 
value  of  most  Central  European  railroads  would 
be  the  right  of  way  and  its  embankments, 
bridges,  cuts,  and  tunnels — the  things  known 
collectively  as  Bahrikorper — line  body. 

When  I  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  Cen- 
tral Europe's  railroads,  I  found  them  hi  a  high 
state  of  efficiency.  The  rail-bed  was  good,  the 
rolling  stock  showed  the  best  of  care — repairs 
were  made  in  time,  and  paint  was  not  stinted 
— and  the  motive  power  was  of  the  very  best. 
Efficiency  had  been  aimed  at  and  obtained.  To 
be  sure,  there  was  nothing  that  could  compare 
with  the  best  railroading  in  the  United  States. 
The  American  train  de  luxe  was  unknown.  But 
if  its  comforts  could  not  be  had,  the  communi- 
ties, on  the  other  hand,  did  not  have  to  bear  the 
waste  that  comes  from  it.  Passenger  travel, 
moreover,  on  most  lines,  moved  in  so  small  a 
radius  that  the  American  "Limited"  was  not 
called  for,  though  the  speed  of  express-trains 
running  between  the  principal  cities  was  no 
mean  performance  at  that. 

It  was  not  long  before  all  this  was  to  vanish. 
The  shortage  in  labor  began  to  be  seriously 
felt.  There  were  times,  in  fact,  when  the  rail- 
road schedules  showed  the  initiated  exactly  what 
labor-supply  conditions  were.  When  an  hour 
was  added  to  the  time  of  transit  from  Berlin 
to  Vienna  I  knew  that  the  pinch  in  labor  was 
beginning  to  be  badly  felt.  When  one  of  the 

expresses  running  between  the  two  capitals  was 

367 


THE   IRON   RATION 

taken  off  altogether,  I  surmised  that  things  were 
in  bad  shape,  and  when  ultimately  the  number 
of  passenger-trains  running  between  Vienna  and 
Budapest  was  reduced  from  twelve  each  day  to 
four,  it  was  plain  enough  that  railroading  in 
Austria-Hungary  was  down  to  one-third  of  what 
it  had  been  heretofore — lower  than  that,  even, 
since  the  government  tried  to  keep  up  as  good 
a  front  as  possible. 

In  Germany  things  were  a  little  better,  owing 
to  the  close  husbanding  of  resources  which  had 
been  done  at  the  very  outbreak  of  the  war.  But 
to  Germany  the  railroads  were  also  more  essen- 
tial than  to  Austria-Hungary,  so  that,  by  and 
large,  there  really  was  little  difference. 

The  neatly  kept  freight-cars  degenerated  into 
weather-beaten  boxes  on  wheels.  The  oil  that 
would  have  been  needed  to  paint  them  was  now 
an  article  of  food  and  was  required  also  in  the 
manufacture  of  certain  explosives.  So  long  as 
the  car  body  would  stand  on  the  chassis  it  was 
not  repaired.  Wood  being  plentiful,  it  was 
thought  better  economy  to  replace  the  old 
body  by  a  new  one  when  finally  it  became  dan- 
gerous to  pull  it  about  any  longer. 

It  was  the  same  with  the  passenger-cars. 
The  immaculate  cleanliness  which  I  had  learned 
to  associate  with  them  was  replaced  by  the  most 
slovenly  sweeping.  Dusting  was  hardly  ever 
attempted.  From  the  toilet-rooms  disappeared 
soap  and  towel,  and  usually  there  was  no  water 
in  the  tank.  The  air-brakes  acted  with  a  jar, 
as  the  shoes  gripped  the  flat  surface  of  the 

268 


THE  WEAR  AND  TEAR  OF  WAR 

wheels,  and  soon  the  little  doll  trains  were  an 
abomination,  especially  when,  for  the  sake  of 
economy,  all  draperies  were  removed  from  the 
doors  and  windows. 

The  motive  power  was  in  no  better  condition. 
The  engines  leaked  at  every  steam  and  water 
joint,  and  to  get  within  60  per  cent,  of  the 
normal  efficiency  for  the  amount  of  coal  con- 
sumed was  a  remarkable  performance.  It  meant 
that  the  engineer,  who  was  getting  an  allowance 
on  all  coal  saved,  had  to  spend  his  free  time  re- 
pairing the  "nag"  he  ran. 

Constantly  traveling  from  one  capital  to  an- 
other, and  from  one  front  to  the  other,  I  was 
able  to  gauge  the  rapid  deterioration  of  the  rail- 
roads. To  see  in  cold  weather  one  of  the  loco- 
motives hidden  entirely  in  clouds  of  steam  that 
was  intended  for  the  cylinders  caused  one  to 
wonder  how  the  thing  moved  at  all.  The  closed- 
in  passenger  stations  reminded  me  of  laundries, 
so  thick  were  the  vapors  of  escaping  steam. 

Despite  the  reduction  in  running-time,  wrecks 
multiplied  alarmingly.  It  seemed  difficult  to 
keep  anything  on  the  rails  at  more  than  a  snail's 
pace. 

To  the  freight  movement  this  was  disastrous. 
Its  volume  had  to  be  reduced  to  a  quarter  of  what 
it  had  been.  This  caused  great  hardship,  despite 
the  fact  that  the  distribution  and  consumption 
zones  had  put  an  end  to  all  unnecessary  trundling 
about  of  merchandise.  In  the  winter  the  poor 
freight  service  led  to  the  exposure  of  foodstuffs 
to  the  cold.  It  was  nothing  unusual  to  find 

269 


THE    IRON    RATION 

that  a  whole  train-load  of  potatoes  had  frozen 
in  transit  and  become  unfit  for  human  consump- 
tion. Other  shipments  suffered  similarly. 

In  countries  that  were  forced  to  count  on 
every  crumb  that  was  a  great  loss.  It  could  not 
be  overcome  under  the  circumstances. 

In  the  winter  the  lame  railroads  were  unable 
to  bring  the  needed  quantities  of  coal  into  the 
population  centers.  This  was  especially  true 
of  the  winter  of  1916-17.  Everybody  having 
lived  from  hand  to  mouth  throughout  the  sum- 
mer, and  the  government  having  unwisely  put  a 
ban  on  the  laying-in  of  fuel-supplies,  there  was 
little  coal  on  hand  when  the  cold  weather  came. 
Inside  of  three  weeks  the  available  stores  were 
consumed.  The  insistent  demand  for  fuel  led 
to  a  rush  upon  the  lines  tapping  the  coal-fields. 
Congestion  resulted,  and  when  the  tangle  was 
worst  heavy  snows  began  to  fall.  The  railroads 
failed  utterly. 

Electric  street  traction  shared  the  fate  of  the 
railroads.  To  save  fuel  the  service  was  limited 
to  the  absolutely  necessary.  Heretofore  most 
lines  had  not  permitted  passengers  to  stand  in 
the  cars.  'Now  standing  was  the  rule.  When 
one  half  of  the  rolling  stock  had  been  run  into 
the  ground,  the  other  half  was  put  on  the  streets, 
and  that,  too,  was  shortly  ruined. 

The  traction-service  corporations,  private  and 
municipal  alike,  had  been  shown  scant  mercy 
by  the  several  governments  when  men  were 
needed.  Soon  they  were  without  the  hands  to 
keep  their  rolling  stock  in  good  repair.  Most 

270 


of  the  car  manufacturers  had  meanwhile  gone 
into  the  ammunition  business,  so  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  get  new  rolling  stock.  Further  drafts 
on  the  employees  of  the  systems  led  to  the  em- 
ployment of  women  conductors,  and,  in  some 
cases,  drivers.  While  these  women  did  their 
best,  it  could  not  be  said  that  this  was  any  too 
good  on  lines  that  were  much  frequented.  Travel 
on  the  street  cars  became  a  trial.  People  who 
never  before  had  walked  did  so  now. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  country  roads  were 
neglected.  Soon  the  fine  macadamized  surfaces 
were  full  of  holes,  and  after  that  it  was  a  ques- 
tion of  days  usually  when  the  road  changed 
places  with  a  ditch  of  deep  mire.  The  farmer, 
bringing  food  to  the  railroad  station  or  town, 
moved  now  about  half  of  what  was  formerly  a 
load.  He  was  short  of  draft  animals.  Levy 
after  levy  was  made  by  the  military  authorities. 
By  the  end  of  1916  the  farms  in  Central  Europe 
had  been  deprived  of  half  their  horses. 

It  has  been  said  that  a  man  may  be  known 
by  his  clothing.  That  is  not  always  true.  There 
is  no  doubt,  however,  that  a  community  may 
well  be  recognized  by  its  means  of  transportation. 
Travel  in  every  civilized  country  has  proved 
that  to  my  full  satisfaction.  I  once  met  a  man 
who  insisted  that  if  taken  blindfolded  from  one 
country  into  another  he  would  be  able  to  tell 
among  what  people  he  found  himself,  or  what 
sort  of  gentry  they  were,  merely  by  traveling 
on  their  railroads.  To  which  I  would  add  that 
he  could  also  very  easily  determine  what  sort 

271 


of  government  they  had,  if  he  had  an  ear  for  all 
the  "Es  ist  Verboten"  "C'est  defendu"  and  "It 
is  not  allowed"  which  usually  grace  the  interiors 
of  stations  and  car. 

Travel  was  the  hardest  sort  of  labor  in  the 
Central  European  states.  I  was  obliged  to  do 
much  of  it.  And  most  of  it  I  did  standing.  I 
have  made  the  following  all-afoot  trips:  Berlin- 
Bentheim,  Berlin-Dresden,  Berlin-Cologne,  Vi- 
enna-Budapest, and  Vienna-Trieste,  .and  this  at 
a  time  when  the  regular  running-time  had  be- 
come 80  to  150  per  cent,  longer. 

The  means  of  communication  of  Central  Eu- 
rope had  sunk  to  the  level  of  the  nag  before  the 
ragman's  cart.  The  shay  was  not  good-looking, 
either. 

But  the  wear  and  tear  of  war  did  not  affect 
the  means  of  communication  alone.  Every 
building  in  Central  Europe  suffered  heavily  from 
it.  Materials  and  labor  for  upkeep  were  hard 
to  get  at  any  time  and  were  costly.  Real  prop- 
erty, moreover,  suffered  under  the  moratorium, 
while  the  constantly  increasing  taxes  left  little 
in  the  pocket  of  the  owner  to  pay  for  repairs. 
As  already  stated,  paint  was  hard  to  get.  Ex- 
posed to  the  weather,  the  naked  wood  decayed. 
Nor  were  varnishes  to  be  had  for  the  protection 
of  interior  woodwork. 

Many  manufacturing  plants  had  to  be  closed, 
first  of  all  those  which  before  the  war  had  de- 
pended upon  the  foreign  market.  The  entire 
doll  industry,  for  instance,  suspended  work.  In 
other  branches  of  manufacture  the  closing-down 

272 


THE  WEAR  AND  TEAR  OF  WAR 

was  partial,  as  in  the  case  of  the  textile-mills. 
Not  alone  had  the  buildings  to  be  neglected  in 
this  instance,  but  a  great  deal  of  valuable  ma- 
chinery was  abandoned  to  rust.  As  the  stock  of 
copper,  tin,  and  brass  declined  the  several  gov- 
ernments requisitioned  the  metals  of  this  sort 
that  were  found  in  idle  plants  and  turned  them 
over  to  the  manufacturers  of  ammunition.  While 
the  owners  were  paid  the  price  which  these  metals 
cost  in  the  form  of  machinery  parts  and  the  like., 
the  economic  loss  to  the  community  was,  never- 
theless, heavy. 

Farm  implements  and  equipment  also  suffered 
much  from  inattention.  Tens  of  thousands  of 
horses  perished  at  the  fronts  and  almost  every 
one  of  them  meant  a  loss  to  some  farm.  The 
money  that  had  been  paid  for  them  had  usually 
been  given  back  to  the  government  in  the  form 
of  taxes,  so  that  now  the  farmer  had  lost  his 
horse  or  horses  in  much  the  same  manner  as 
if  some  epidemic  had  been  at  work.  Valuable 
draft  and  milk  animals  were  requisitioned  to 
provide  meat  for  the  armies.  In  certain  dis- 
tricts the  lack  of  vitriol  had  resulted  in  the  de- 
struction of  vineyards  and  orchards. 

To  give  a  better  picture  of  what  this  meant, 
I  will  cite  the  case  of  an  acquaintance  who  is 
somewhat  of  a  gentleman  farmer  near  Cob- 
lentz,  on  the  Rhine. 

When  the  war  broke  out  this  man  had  in 
live  stock:  Five  horses,  eight  cows,  forty  sheep, 
and  a  large  stock  of  poultry.  He  also  had  sev- 
•eral  small  vineyards  and  a  fine  apple  orchard, 

273 


THE   IRON   RATION 

In  the  winter  of  1916-17  his  stock  had  shrunk 
to  two  horses,  two  cows,  no  sheep,  very  little 
poultry,  and  no  vineyard.  The  apple  orchard 
was  also  dying  from  lack  of  Bordeaux  mixture. 

In  January,  1917,  I  obtained  some  figures 
dealing  with  the  wear  and  tear  of  war  in  the 
kingdom  of  Saxony.  Applying  them  on  a  per- 
capita  basis  to  all  of  the  German  Empire,  I  estab- 
lished that  so  far  the  war  had  caused  deteriora- 
tion amounting  to  $8,950,000,000,  or  $128  for 
each  man,  woman,  and  child.  In  Austria-Hun- 
gary the  damage  done  was  then  estimated  at 
$6,800,000,000. 

These  losses  were  due  to  absence  from  their 
proper  spheres  in  the  economic  scheme  of  some 
14,000,000  able-bodied  men  who  had  been  mo- 
bilized for  service  in  connection  with  the  war. 
This  vast  army  consumed  at  a  frightful  rate  and 
produced  very  little  now.  To  non-productive 
consumption  had  to  be  added  the  rapid  deteriora- 
tion due  to  all  abandonment  of  upkeep.  The 
Central  states  were  living  from  hand  to  mouth 
and  had  no  opportunity  of  engaging  in  that 
thorough  maintenance  which  had  been  given 
so  much  attention  before.  All  material  progress 
had  been  arrested,  and  this  meant  that  decay 
and  rust  got  the  upper  hand. 


XVI 

THE  ARMY  TILLS 

MEN  getting  much  physical  exercise  in  the 
open  air  consume  much  more  food  than 
those  confined.  In  cold  weather  such  food  must 
contain  the  heat  which  is  usually  supplied  by 
fuel.  All  of  which  is  true  of  the  soldier  in  a 
greater  degree.  This,  and  the  fact  that  in  army 
subsistence,  transportation  and  distribution  are 
usually  coupled  with  great  difficulty,  made  it 
necessary  for  the  Central  Powers  to  provide 
their  forces  chiefly  with  food  staples. 

Before  the  war  about  35  per  cent,  of  the  men 
mobilized  had  lived  largely  on  cereals  and  vege- 
tables. Little  meat  is  consumed  by  the  rural 
population  of  Central  Europe.  For  the  reasons 
already  given,  that  diet  had  to  make  room  for 
one  composed  of  more  concentrated  and  more 
heat-producing  elements.  Bread,  meat,  fats, 
and  potatoes  were  its  principal  constituents. 
Beans,  peas,  and  lentils  were  added  as  the  supply 
permitted.  In  the  winter  larger  quantities  of 
animal  fats  were  required  to  keep  the  men  warm, 
and  in  times  of  great  physical  exertion  the  allow- 
ance of  sugar  had  to  be  increased. 

275 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Since  at  first  the  army  produced  no  food  at  all, 
the  civil  population  had  to  produce  what  was 
needed.  With,  roughly,  42  per  cent,  of  the  soldiers 
coming  from  the  food-producing  classes,  this  was 
no  small  task,  especially  since  the  more  fitted 
had  been  called  to  the  colors. 

The  governments  of  Central  Europe  realized  as 
early  as  in  the  spring  of  1915  that  the  army  would 
have  to  produce  at  least  a  share  of  the  food  it 
needed.  Steps  were  taken  to  bring  that  about. 
The  war  had  shown  that  cavalry  was,  for  the 
time  being,  useless.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was 
not  good  military  policy  to  disband  the  cavalry 
organizations  and  turn  them  into  artillery  and 
infantry.  These  troops  might  be  needed  again 
sooner  or  later.  That  being  the  case,  it  was  de- 
cided to  employ  mounted  troops  in  the  produc- 
tion of  food.  Fully  65  per  cent,  of  the  men  in 
that  branch  of  the  military  establishments  of 
Central  Europe  came  from  the  farm  and  were  fa- 
miliar with  the  handling  of  horses.  That  ele- 
ment was  put  to  work  behind  the  fronts  produc- 
ing food. 

No  totals  of  this  production  have  ever  been 
published,  to  my  knowledge,  so  that  I  can  deal 
only  with  what  I  actually  saw.  I  must  state, 
however,  that  the  result  cannot  have  been  negli- 
gible, though  on  the  whole  it  was  not  what  some 
enthusiasts  have  claimed  for  it. 

I  saw  the  first  farming  of  this  sort  in  Galicia. 
There  some  Austro-Hungarian  cavalry  organiza- 
tions had  tilled,  roughly,  sixty  thousand  acres, 
putting  the  fields  under  wheat,  rye,  oats,  and 

276 


THE   ARMY   TILLS 

potatoes.  When  I  saw  the  crops  they  were  in  a 
fair  state  of  prosperity,  though  I  understand  that 
later  a  drought  damaged  them  much.  The 
colonel  in  charge  of  the  work  told  me  that  he 
expected  to  raise  food  enough  for  a  division, 
which  should  not  have  been  difficult,  seeing  that 
three  acres  ought  to  produce  food  enough  for  any 
man,  even  if  tilled  in  a  slovenly  way. 

Throughout  Poland  and  the  parts  of  Russia 
then  occupied  the  Germans  were  doing  the 
same  thing.  What  the  quality  of  their  effort 
was  I  have  no  means  of  knowing,  but  if  they  are 
to  be  measured  by  what  I  saw  in  France,  during 
the  Somme  offensive  in  1916,  the  results  obtained 
must  have  been  very  satisfying. 

One  of  the  organizations  then  lying  in  the 
Bapaume  sector  was  the  German  Second  Guards 
Substitute-Reserve  Division  —  Garde-Ersatz-Re- 
serve-Division. I  think  that  the  palm  for  war 
economy  must  be  due  that  organization.  In  my 
many  trips  to  various  fronts  (I  have  been  on 
every  front  in  Central  Europe,  the  Balkan, 
Turkey,  and  Asia)  and  during  my  long  stays 
there  I  have  never  seen  a  crowd  that  had  made 
itself  so  much  at  home  in  the  enemy  country. 

The  body  in  question  had  then  under  cultiva- 
tion some  sixteen  hundred  acres  of  very  good 
soil,  on  which  it  was  raising  wheat,  rye,  barley, 
oats,  beans,  peas,  lentils,  sugar-beets,  roots  of 
various  sorts,  and  potatoes.  It  had  made  hay 
enough  for  its  own  draft  animals  and  had  sold 
a  large  quantity  to  neighboring  divisions. 

At  Gommecourt  the  division  operated  a  well- 

19  277 


THE   IRON    RATION 

equipped  modern  dairy,  able  to  convert  into 
butter  and  cheese  the  milk  of  about  six  hundred 
cows.  Its  output  was  large  enough  to  supply 
the  men  in  the  trenches  with  all  the  butter  and 
cheese  they  could  reasonably  expect.  A  large  herd 
of  pigs  was  kept  by  the  division,  and  as  General 
von  Stein,  the  commander  of  the  sector,  now 
Prussian  Minister  of  War,  informed  me  at  a 
table  that  offered  the  products  of  the  division  at 
a  luncheon,  the  organization  was  then  operating, 
somewhere  near  the  actual  firing-line,  two  water- 
mills,  a  large  sugar-plant,  and  even  a  brewery. 
Coffee,  salt,  and  a  few  other  trifles  were  all  the 
division  received  from  the  rear. 

It  was  then  the  middle  of  August,  so  that  I 
was  able  to  see  the  results  of  what  had  been  done 
by  these  soldier-farmers.  I  can  state  that  soil 
was  never  put  to  better  use.  Cultivation  had 
been  efficiently  carried  out  and  the  crops  were 
exceedingly  good. 

One  of  the  most  vivid  pictures  I  retain  from 
that  week  in  "Hell"  shows  several  German  sol- 
diers plowing  a  field  east  of  Bucquoi  into  which 
British  shells  were  dropping  at  the  time.  The 
shells  tore  large  craters  in  the  plowed  field,  but 
with  an  indifference  that  was  baffling  the  men 
continued  their  work.  I  have  not  yet  been  able 
to  explain  what  was  the  purpose  of  this  plowing 
in  August,  except  to  lay  the  knife  at  the  root  of 
the  weeds;  nor  can  I  quite  believe  that  this  end 
justified  exposing  men  and  valuable  animals.  At 
any  rate,  the  thing  was  done. 

The  case  cited  represents  the  maximum  that 

278 


THE    ARMY   TILLS 

was  achieved  in  food  production  by  any  army 
organization,  so  far  as  I  know.  But  that  maxi- 
mum was  no  mean  thing.  That  division,  at  least, 
did  not  depend  on  the  civil  population  for  food. 

Several  trips  through  Serbia  and  Macedonia 
in  the  same  year  showed  me  what  the  German 
"economic"  and  occupation  troops  had  done  in 
those  parts. 

On  the  whole,  the  efforts  at  food  production  of 
the  "economic"  troops — organization  of  older 
men  barely  fit  for  service  in  the  firing-line — had 
not  been  fortunate.  The  plan  had  been  to  put 
as  much  soil  under  crops  as  was  possible.  For 
this  purpose  traction  plows  had  been  brought 
along  and  whole  country  sites  had  been  torn  up. 
Though  the  soil  of  the  valleys  of  Serbia  is  gen- 
erally very  rich,  and  the  climate  one  of  the  best 
for  farming,  the  crops  raised  in  that  year  were  far 
from  good.  Some  held  that  it  was  due  to  the 
seed,  which  had  been  brought  from  Germany. 
Others  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  plowing  had 
been  carelessly  done,  leaving  too  much  leeway 
to  the  weeds.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  work  of  the 
economic  companies  was  not  a  success. 

The  occupation  troops  did  much  better,  how- 
ever. Together  with  the  Serbian  women  they 
had  cultivated  the  fields  on  the  intensive  prin- 
ciple. Yields  had  been  good,  I  was  told. 

In  Macedonia  the  fields  had  also  been  put  to 
use  by  the  Germans,  Austro-Hungarians,  and 
Bulgars.  The  last  named,  familiar  with  the  culti- 
vation of  the  tobacco  plant,  were  exchanging  with 
the  others  tobacco  for  grain.  Food  production 

279 


THE    IRON   RATION 

was  also  attempted  by  the  Austro-Hungarians  on 
the  Isonzo  front.  But  since  they  were  fighting 
on  their  own  territory  in  districts  which  still  had 
their  civil  population,  there  was  little  opportu- 
nity, all  the  less  since  the  soil  of  the  Carso  and 
Bainsizza  plateaus,  and  the  mountainous  regions 
north  of  them,  is  not  suited  for  agriculture  on 
a  large  scale.  Every  doline — funnel-shaped  de- 
pression— of  the  Carso  had  its  garden,  however, 
whence  the  army  drew  most  of  the  vegetables 
it  consumed. 

The  food  that  was  being  raised  for  the  army 
never  reached  the  interior,  of  course.  If  an 
organization  produced  more  than  what  it  con- 
sumed, and  such  cases  were  extremely  rare,  it 
sold  the  surplus  to  the  army  commissaries.  It 
took  men  and  time  to  cultivate  the  fields,  and 
these  could  not  always  be  spared,  especially 
when  the  losses  in  men  were  beginning  to  be 
severely  felt  and  when  the  opponent  engaged  in 
offensives.  It  had  meanwhile  become  necessary 
to  throw,  several  times  a  year,  divisions  from  one 
front  to  another,  and  that,  too,  began  to  interfere 
with  the  scheme,  since  the  men  no  longer  took 
the  interest  in  the  crops  they  had  taken  when 
they  were  established  in  a  position. 

I  spent  considerable  time  with  the  Ninth 
German  Army  operating  against  the  Rouma- 
nians late  in  the  fall  of  1916.  Much  booty  in  food 
fell  into  the  hands  of  that  organization,  among 
it  some  eleven  hundred  thousand  tons  of  wheat 
and  other  grains. 

Bread  was  bad  and  scarce  in  the  Central  states. 

280 


THE  ARMY   TILLS 

When  it  became  known  that  so  large  a  quantity 
of  breadstuff  had  fallen  in  the  hands  of  the 
Centralist  troops,  people  in  Berlin  and  Vienna 
already  saw  some  of  it  on  their  tables — but  only 
in  their  minds.  Falkenhayn  and  Mackensen  is- 
sued orders  that  not  a  pound  of  breadstuff  was 
to  be  taken  from  the  war  zone  they  had  estab- 
lished, which  comprised  all  of  Roumania  occu- 
pied, Transylvania,  and  the  Dobrudja  district. 
Nor  could  other  food  be  exported  to  the  Central 
civilian  population.  Whatever  was  found  in  the 
conquered  territory  was  reserved  for  the  use  of 
the  troops  that  had  been  employed,  and  the  sur- 
plus was  assigned  to  the  German,  Austro-Hun- 
garian,  and  Bulgarian  commissaries-general. 

The  quantities  taken,  however,  were  large,  and 
six  months  later,  when  all  needs  of  the  armed 
forces  had  been  met,  the  civilian  populations  were 
remembered  so  far  as  it  was  prudent  to  do  so. 
To  give  that  population  too  much  might  have  re- 
sulted in  a  lessening  of  production  at  home,  and 
that  was  something  which  could  not  be  invited. 

This  policy  was  followed  always.  I  know  of 
no  instance  in  which  it  was  abandoned,  even 
when  the  clamor  for  bread  at  home  was  loudest. 
The  army  came  first  in  all  things,  much  in  the 
manner  of  the  driver  of  a  team  of  mules. 

But  it  was  not  selfishness  alone  that  gave  rise 
to  this  policy.  It  served  no  good  purpose  to 
ship  into  the  interior  food  that  would  later  be 
needed  by  the  troops.  That  merely  increased 
the  burden  of  the  railroads,  first  by  the  transport 
of  the  booty  homeward,  and  later  by  shipping 

281 


THE    IRON   RATION 

back  food  as  the  troops  needed  it.  Keeping  the 
food  where  it  was  found  obviated  this  traffic 
entirely. 

On  the  whole,  the  Centralist  troops  never 
fared  poorly  in  subsistence.  It  had  become 
necessary  to  reduce  the  bread  ration  from  500 
grams  (18  ounces)  to  400  grams  (14  ounces)  per 
day,  but  this  was  made  good  by  increasing  the 
meat  and  fat  ration.  Enough  to  eat  was  the 
surest  way  of  keeping  the  war  popular  with  the 
soldiers. 

Since  it  is  very  easy  to  exaggerate  the  value  of 
food  production  due  to  the  army,  I  will  state 
here  specifically  that  this  production  took  care  of 
little  more  than  what  the  men  consumed  in  excess 
over  their  former  diet.  Their  normal  consump- 
tion was  still  borne  by  the  civilian  population, 
and,  as  the  losses  on  the  battle-field  increased, 
and  the  reserves  had  to  be  employed  oftener, 
food  production  in  the  army  fell  rapidly,  though 
at  present  this  condition  appears  to  be  discounted 
by  the  food  produced  in  Roumania,  Serbia,  and 
Poland.  The  area  involved  is  large,  of  course, 
but  the  surplus  actually  available  is  not  great. 
The  population  of  these  territories  has  dwindled 
to  old  men,  boys,  and  women,  and  their  produc- 
tion is  barely  able  to  meet  actual  needs.  The 
little  that  can  be  extracted  from  these  people 
does  not  go  very  far  in  the  subsistence  of  Ger- 
many, Austria-Hungary,  and  Bulgaria.  These 
countries  have  together  a  population  of,  roundly, 
one  hundred  and  fifteen  millions  to-day,  of  which 
not  less  than  ten  million  of  the  best  producers  are 

282 


THE    ARMY   TILLS 

under  the  colors,  thereby  causing  a  consumption 
in  food  and  materiel  that  is  at  least  one-third 
greater  than  normal — munitions  and  ammunition 
not  included. 

But  the  army  had  much  to  do  with  food  in  other 
directions.  It  controlled  inter-allied  exports  and 
imports  and  was  a  power  even  in  trade  with  the 
neutrals  of  Europe. 

The  relations  between  Germany,  Austria-Hun- 
gary, Bulgaria,  and  Turkey  were  essentially  mili- 
tary. They  were  this  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
almost  overshadowed  even  the  diplomatic  ser- 
vices of  these  countries.  For  the  time  being,  the 
Militarbevollmachtigte — military  plenipotentiary — 
as  the  chief  communication  officer  was  known, 
eclipsed  often  the  diplomatic  plenipotentiary. 
Militarism  was  absolute.  The  civil  government 
and  population  had  no  right  which  the  military 
authorities  need  respect. 

All  commercial  exchange  passed  into  the  hands 
of  these  military  plenipotentiaries.  The  diplo- 
matic service  might  reach  an  agreement  for  the 
exchange  of  food  against  manufactured  articles, 
but  finally  the  military  saw  to  it  that  it  was 
carried  out.  They  bought  and  shipped,  and  re- 
ceived in  turn  the  factory  products  that  were  the 
quid  pro  quo  for  the  food  and  raw  material  thus 
secured. 

In  Roumania,  so  long  as  she  was  neutral,  the 
Einkaufstelle — purchasing  bureau — was  indeed 
in  the  hands  of  civilians.  As  a  neutral,  Rou- 
mania could  not  permit  German  and  Austro- 
Hungarian  officers  to  be  seen  in  the  streets  in 

283 


THE    IRON   RATION 

their  uniforms.  They  were,  for  all  that,  mem- 
bers of  the  army.  For  the  time  being,  they  wore 
mufti,  nor  did  their  transactions  show  that  they 
were  working  directly  for  the  army.  The  food 
that  was  bought  was  intended  for  the  civilian 
population,  naturally.  But  it  has  always  been 
hard  to  keep  from  any  army  that  which  it  may 
need.  The  same  sack  of  wheat  may  not  go  to 
the  military  commissaries,  but  what  difference 
will  it  make  so  long  as  it  releases  for  consumption 
by  the  army  a  like  quantity  of  home-grown 
cereals? 

The  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  purchas- 
ing bureaus  in  Switzerland,  Holland,  Denmark, 
Norway,  and  Sweden  are  similarly  organized. 
Many  members  of  their  staffs  are  indeed  ci- 
vilians, but  that  does  not  change  anything,  since 
all  shipments  of  food  entering  Central  Europe 
fall  immediately  under  the  control  of  the  govern- 
ment Food  Commissions,  if  not  under  that  of  the 
military  commissaries  direct. 

To  the  military,  then,  the  Central  states  ci- 
vilian population  had  to  look  for  such  food  as 
could  be  imported. 

There  was  the  case  of  Bulgaria.  That  country 
is  still  essentially  an  agricultural  state.  Of  the 
five  and  a  half  million  inhabitants  fully  90 
per  cent,  engage  in  farming  and  animal  industry. 
The  products  of  the  soil  constitute  the  major 
portion  of  Bulgaria's  exports.  That  meant  that 
she  could  ease  to  some  extent  the  food  shortage 
in  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary. 

An  acquaintance  of  mine,  a  Captain  Wester- 

384 


THE    ARMY    TILLS 

hagen,  formerly  a  banker  in  Wall  Street,  was 
in  charge  of  the  German  purchasing  bureau  in 
Sofia.  He  bought  whatever  was  edible — wheat, 
rye,  barley,  peas,  beans,  potatoes,  butter,  eggs, 
lard,  pork,  and  mutton.  His  side  lines  were 
hides,  wool,  flax,  mohair,  hay,  and  animal  feed- 
stuffs. 

Indirectly,  he  was  also  an  importer.  Under 
his  surveillance  were  brought  into  Bulgaria 
the  manufactured  goods  Bulgaria  needed,  such 
as  iron  and  steel  products  in  the  form  of  farm 
implements,  farm  machinery,  building  hardware, 
small  hardware,  and  general  machinery,  glass- 
ware, paper  products,  instruments,  surgical  sup- 
plies, railroad  equipment,  medicines,  and  chem- 
icals generally. 

When  the  German  army  needed  none  of  the 
food  Captain  Westerhagen  bought,  the  civilian 
population  was  the  beneficiary  of  his  efforts. 
The  fact  is  that  my  acquaintance  bought  what- 
ever he  could  lay  hands  on.  Now  and  then  he 
bought  so  much  that  the  Bulgarians  began  to 
feel  the  pinch.  In  that  event  the  Bulgarian 
general  staff  might  close  down  on  the  purchasing 
central  for  a  little  while,  with  the  result  that  the 
Germans  would  shut  down  on  their  exports.  It 
was  a  case  of  no  food,  no  factory  products.  This 
sort  of  reciprocity  led  often  to  hard  feeling — 
situations  which  Colonel  von  Massow,  the  Ger- 
man military  plenipotentiary  at  Sofia,  found 
pretty  hard  to  untangle.  But,  on  the  whole,  the 
arrangement  worked  smoothly  enough. 

It  was  so  in  Turkey. 

285 


THE    IRON    RATION 

The  Germans  had  in  Constantinople  one  of 
their  most  remarkable  men — and  here  I  must 
throw  a  little  light  on  German-Ottoman  rela- 
tions. The  name  of  this  remarkable  man — re- 
markable in  capacity,  energy,  industry,  and  far- 
sightedness— is  Corvette-Captain  Humann,  son 
of  the  famous  archeologist  who  excavated  Per- 
gamum  and  other  ancient  cities  and  settlements 
in  Asia  Minor. 

Captain  Humann  was  born  in  Smyrna  and  had 
early  in  life  made  the  acquaintance  of  Enver 
Pasha,  now  Ottoman  Minister  of  War  and  vice- 
generalissimo  of  the  Ottoman  army.  Raised  in 
the  Orient,  Humann  knew  the  people  with  whom 
he  was  to  deal.  The  viewpoint  of  the  Orient  and 
the  Turk  was  an  open  book  to  him.  He  had  the 
advantage  of  being  looked  upon  as  half  a  Turk, 
for  the  reason  that  he  was  born  in  Turkey.  To 
these  qualifications  Captain  Humann  added 
great  natural  ability  and  a  perseverance  without 
equal. 

Officially,  Captain  Humann  was  known  as  the 
commander  of  the  German  naval  base  in  Con- 
stantinople and  as  naval  attache.  Actually,  he 
was  the  alpha  and  omega  of  German-Ottoman 
relations. 

There  always  was  a  great  deal  of  friction  be- 
tween the  Turks  and  the  Germans.  The  Turk 
often  could  not  see  the  need  for  speed,  while  the 
German  was  eternally  in  a  hurry,  from  the 
Oriental  point  of  view.  The  Turk  was  inclined 
to  do  things  in  a  slovenly  manner.  The  German 
insisted  upon  everything,  in  matters  economic, 

286 


THE   ARMY   TILLS 

military,  and  diplomatic,  being  in  its  place. 
German  officers  who  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with 
these  things  had  not  always  the  tact  and  for- 
bearance necessary.  Bad  blood  would  come  of 
this.  To  make  matters  worse,  the  Turk  was  for- 
ever under  the  impression  that  he  was  being 
exploited.  The  Germans,  also,  refused  to  bak- 
shish the  officials  of  their  ally,  and  more  trouble 
came  from  that. 

It  is  hard  to  say  what  the  general  result  of  this 
would  have  been  had  not  Captain  Humann  been 
on  the  spot.  He  was  on  du — thou — terms  with 
Enver  Pasha,  and  when  things  refused  to  move 
at  all  he  would  call  on  his  friend  in  the  Harbiyeh 
Nasaret  in  Stamboul  and  set  them  into  motion 
again.  That  Turk  and  German  did  not  come 
to  blows  during  the  first  year  of  the  war  is 
largely  due  to  the  genius  of  Captain  Humann. 
So  great  was  the  man's  influence  in  Constanti- 
nople that  the  successor  of  Ambassador  Baron 
von  Wangenheim,  Prince  Metternich,  grew  jeal- 
ous of  him  and  had  him  removed  to  Berlin,  where 
in  the  Imperial  Naval  Office  Captain  Humann 
chewed  pencils  until  conditions  in  Constantinople 
were  so  bad  that  the  German  Emperor  had  to 
send  him  back,  despite  the  prejudices  he  held 
against  him.  Captain  Humann  is  not  a  noble, 
and  in  those  days  the  powers  that  be  in  Prussia 
and  Germany  were  not  yet  ready  to  have  a  com- 
moner, no  matter  how  able,  take  away  glamour 
from  the  aristocratic  class. 

Though  purchasing  in  Turkey  was  not  one  of 
the  duties  of  Captain  Humann,  he  was  often 

287 


THE   IRON   RATION 

obliged  to  take  charge  of  it.  I  knew  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  wool  which 
the  Germans  had  bought,  but  which  the  Turks 
were  not  willing  to  surrender  because  they  were 
not  satisfied  with  the  price  after  the  bargain  had 
been  closed.  The  case  was  ticklish  in  the  ex- 
treme. Everybody  had  gone  as  far  as  safety 
permitted  and  the  Turks  had  meanwhile  grown 
more  obdurate.  In  the  end  the  matter  had  to  be 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  ambassador. 
He,  too,  decided  that  nothing  could  be  done. 
Captain  Humann  was  appealed  to  and  succeeded 
in  securing  delivery  of  the  wool. 

I  have  quoted  this  case  to  show  that  very  often 
the  exchange  of  commodities  between  the  Cen- 
tral allies  was  attended  with  much  friction  and 
difficulty.  More  merchandise  moved  over  and 
across  the  Danube  as  personal  favors  done  than 
by  virtue  of  the  commercial  treaties  that  had 
been  made.  Personal  equation  was  everything 
in  the  scheme,  especially  at  times  when  Ger- 
many's allies  were  in  no  pressing  need  for  arms 
and  ammunition.  The  very  fact  that  Germany 
was  the  "king-pin"  in  the  Central  European 
scheme  caused  the  lesser  members  of  the  combi- 
nation to  be  sticklers  in  matters  affecting  their 
rights  and  sovereignty. 

On  one  occasion  the  predecessor  of  Captain 
Westerhagen  in  Sofia  was  said  to  have  boast- 
fully made  the  statement  that  what  he  could 
not  get  from  the  Bulgarians  voluntarily  he  would 
find  means  to  get,  anyhow.  General  Jekoff,  the 
chief  of  the  Bulgarian  general  staff,  heard  of  this, 

288 


THE    ARMY   TILLS 

and  promptly  shut  down  on  all  exports.  For 
two  weeks  not  a  thing  moved  out  of  Bulgaria, 
and  when  the  two  weeks  were  over  there  was  a 
new  man  in  charge  of  the  German  purchasing 
bureau  in  Sofia.  The  methods  of  the  Prussian 
barrack-yard  would  not  do  south  of  the 
Danube.  It  took  many  a  lesson  to  bring  this 
home. 

Austria  and  Hungary  were  two  separate  eco- 
nomic units  in  the  war.  When  food  was  scarce 
in  Austria  it  did  not  necessarily  follow  that  the 
Hungarians  would  make  good  the  deficiency. 
It  took  a  special  permit  to  export  and  import 
from  and  into  Hungary,  and  the  same  rules  were 
enforced  by  Austria,  Germany,  Bulgaria,  and 
Turkey  in  the  case  of  all  shipments  made  by 
civilians,  so  long  as  these  had  a  hand  in  this 
inter-allied  exchange  of  necessities  and  com- 
modities. 

Little  need  be  said  of  the  German  purchasing 
centrals  in  Austria  and  Hungary.  The  war  was 
not  very  old  before  these  countries  had  nothing 
to  spare.  Thereafter,  exchange  was  limited  en- 
tirely to  materials  needed  in  the  manufacture 
of  arms  and  ammunition.  Austria  and  Hungary 
continued  to  exchange  medical  supplies,  chem- 
icals, and  machinery  for  food  and  the  like,  re- 
spectively. They  also  managed  now  and  then  to 
get  a  little  of  the  food  in  Bulgaria  and  Turkey, 
though  the  latter  country  could  sell  food  only 
on  rare  occasions.  Constantinople  continued  to 
live  on  Roumanian  wheat,  until  the  total  cessa- 
tion of  activity  by  the  Russian  Black  Sea  fleet 

289 


THE    IRON    RATION 

made  navigation  in  those  waters  possible  for  the 
Turks  and  brought  wheat  and  other  food  from 
northern  Anatolia. 

The  food  secured  by  Germany  in  other  markets 
was  also  under  military  control,  as  I  have  stated 
before.  Exchange  in  this  case  depended  even 
more  upon  reciprocity  in  kind  than  in  the  in- 
stances already  cited.  At  one  time  the  Swiss 
government  was  ready  to  close  its  borders  against 
the  export  of  food  to  Central  Europe  entirely. 
Nothing  came  of  the  intention.  The  German 
government  informed  the  government  at  Bern 
that  this  would  lead  to  an  embargo  on  coal 
along  the  Swiss  borders.  France  and  Italy  had 
no  coal  themselves,  and  Switzerland  had  to  have 
fuel. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  incident  in  question 
was  staged  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  what 
the  position  of  the  Swiss  actually  was.  At  any 
rate,  they  would  have  no  coal,  not  so  much  as  a 
shovelful,  if  to-morrow  they  refused  to  export 
to  the  Germans  and  Austrians  dairy  products  and 
animal  fats.  The  same  is  true  of  iron  products 
and  chemicals. 

Holland  is  in  the  same  position.  Great  Brit- 
ain needs  all  the  coal  she  can  mine,  and  the  Ger- 
mans refuse  to  supply  the  little  they  can  spare 
without  getting  something  in  exchange — dairy 
products,  animal  fats,  vegetables,  and  fresh  and 
preserved  fish.  Holland  also  gets  her  coal-oil 
and  gasolene  in  that  manner.  Iron  and  steel 
and  chemicals  are  other  strong  arguments  in 
this  scheme.  Denmark  is  in  exactly  the  same 

290 


THE    ARMY   TILLS 

position,  and  when  German  gasolene  and  ben- 
zine are  not  available  the  Norwegian  fishermen 
have  to  stay  at  home.  For  each  gallon  of  these 
fuels,  which  Germany  exports  from  the  Gali- 
cian  and  Roumanian  oil-fields,  the  Norwegians 
are  obliged  to  turn  over  so  many  pounds  of 
fish.  Sweden  has  no  food  to  give  for  the 
coal  and  liquid  fuel  she  gets  from  Germany, 
but  exchanges  them  for  wood  pulp,  certain 
specialty  ores,  and  on  rare  occasions  reindeer 
meat. 

That  this  commerce  is  strictly  military  those 
interested  know,  of  course.  But  they  have  given 
up  splitting  hairs  over  it,  because  there  is  no  way 
out.  Coal  and  iron  products,  to  say  nothing  of 
chemicals  and  medicines,  are  things  which  the 
European  neutrals  must  have,  and  this  need 
warring  Central  Europe  has  held  over  them  as  a 
whip.  Incidentally,  this  traffic  has  done  much 
toward  keeping  up  the  rate  of  the  German  mark. 
Central  Europe  would  have  been  bankrupted 
long  ago  were  it  not  that  the  neutrals  must  buy 
what  these  states  have  for  sale  and  must  buy  it 
at  prices  fixed  by  monopoly. 

The  need  of  coal  and  iron  has  been  a  far  more 
efficacious  discipline  for  the  European  neutrals 
than  the  German  armies  that  have  lain  along 
their  borders.  That  these  countries  have  never 
combined  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  off  this 
yoke  is  due  to  the  influence  of  racial  affinity — 
the  sentiment  upon  which  in  the  past  has 
thriven  Pan-Germanism.  Switzerland,  Holland, 
Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  rising  simul- 

291 


THE    IRON   RATION 

taneously,  could  overnight  cause  the  defeat  of 
the  Germans  and  their  allies.  But  the  ties  of 
blood  and  kinship  militate  against  that  step, 
despite  the  dislike  felt  in  these  countries  for 
certain  aspects  of  German  political  life. 


XVII 

WOMAN   AND    LABOR   IN   WAR 

TO  the  plow  was  yoked  an  ox  and  harnessed 
a  horse.  A  tall  and  muscular  woman  was 
guiding  it,  while  a  small  boy  carried  the  whip. 
From  the  Isonzo  front,  not  more  than  ten  miles 
away,  came  the  crash  of  heavy  artillery. 

Neither  the  woman  nor  the  boy  seemed  to 
mind  that  war  was  so  near.  I  concluded  that 
they  were  from  the  village  which  I  had  just  come 
through,  bound  for  the  front  named.  The  in- 
habitants of  that  place  had  listened  to  the  noise 
of  battle  for  eighteen  months  and  it  was  possible 
that  now  the  crash  of  guns  meant  less  to  them 
than  the  sound  of  the  vesper  bell. 

There  was  a  tire  blow-out.  While  the 
soldier -chauffeur  was  attending  to  that,  I 
watched  the  woman  draw  furrows.  Being 
somewhat  of  a  farmer,  I  was  interested  in  the 
quality  of  her  work.  It  was  good  average 
plowing. 

The  plow  continued  to  cut  down  one  side  of 
the  field  and  up  the  other.  The  automobile  did 
not  interest  the  woman.  She  had  serious  busi- 
ness to  attend  to.  War  must  have  seemed  to 

20  293 


THE    IRON   RATION 

her  a  sort  of  folly,  and  fools  all  those  connected 
with  it — myself  included.  She  was  tilling  the 
land  to  get  something  to  eat  for  her  brood  and 
to  raise  the  money  for  taxes  which  those  idiots 
at  the  front  would  waste  in  powder  and  the  like. 
Her  "hees"  and  "haws"  punctuated  the  rumble 
of  artillery  like  words  of  command  for  the  oxen 
in  the  trenches. 

The  woman  behind  the  plow  was  a  superb 
figure — the  embodiment  of  nature  herself. 

I  went  on. 

Toward  evening  I  returned  over  the  same  road. 
The  woman  was  still  plowing,  but  now  she  had 
a  little  girl  holding  the  whip.  The  sirocco  had 
blown  a  heavy  mist  in  from  the  Adriatic.  Where 
the  woman  was  plowing  the  vapors  floated  in 
layers  of  uneven  density — the  veils  of  evening. 
The  plowers  passed  into  them  and  out  again, 
loomed  now  and  then  dwindled  in  the  mist  as 
the  moods  of  light  -pleased. 

It  struck  me  that  it  would  be  worth  while  to 
have  a  few  words  with  this  woman.  She  was 
so  close  to  the  war  and  yet,  seemingly,  so  far 
from  it  that  almost  anything  she  could  say 
promised  to  have  an  unusual  color. 

"These  people  here  are  Slovenes,  sir!"  re- 
marked my  soldier-chauffeur  when  I  had  sought 
his  advice.  "They  do  not  speak  German,  as  a 
rule.  But  we  can  try." 

It  was  love's  labor  lost.  The  woman  spoke 
some  Slovene  words  in  greeting  and  I  replied 
in  Bulgarian,  of  which  language  I  know  a  few 
words.  The  chauffeur  was  no  better  off. 

294 


WOMAN  AND  LABOR  IN  WAR 

I  dug  into  a  furrow  with  the  tip  of  my  shoe 
and  said: 

"DobroF9 

She  nodded  recognition  of  both  my  "remark" 
and  appreciation  of  her  work. 

To  show  the  woman  that  I  knew  what  I  was 
talking  about,  I  took  the  plow  out  of  her  hands 
and  drew  a  furrow  myself.  It  was  her  turn  to 
say: 

"Dobrol" 

The  fact  that  she  limited  her  conversation  to 
this  word,  as  I  was  obliged  to  do,  showed  that 
she  was  a  woman  of  understanding. 

When  I  was  back  at  the  road  I  shook  hands 
with  the  woman  and  her  child  and  hurried  off 
to  Adelsberg,  where  General  Boreovic,  com- 
mander of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Fifth  Army, 
expected  me  for  dinner. 

"Ah,  she  is  a  worker,"  said  the  old  veteran, 
as  I  mentioned  the  incident  to  him.  "Her  hus- 
band is  dead,  you  know.  Was  killed  in  the  war. 
She  is  a  remarkable  woman.  I  have  talked  to 
her  several  times.  She  is  worth  a  dozen  of 
anything  in  skirts  you  can  find  in  Vienna,  or 
anywhere  else,  for  that  matter." 

I  thought  so,  too,  and  think  so  yet,  and,  Deo 
volente,  I  will  picture  the  plow-woman  better 
some  other  time. 

In  the  Manfred  Weiss  works  at  Budapest 
thousands  of  women  are  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  ammunition.  The  little  girls  and 
older  women  who  watched  the  infantry-ammu- 
nition machines  did  not  greatly  interest  me. 

295 


THE    IRON   RATION 

They  were  all  neatly  dressed  and  did  no  more 
than  watch  the  mechanical  contrivances  that 
made  cartridge-cases  out  of  sheets  of  brass  and 
bullet-casings  out  of  sheets  of  nickel-steel. 

In  the  shell  department  of  the  establishment 
I  saw  quite  another  class  of  women. 

They  were  large  and  brawny  and  strong  enough 
to  handle  the  huge  white-hot  steel  nuggets  with 
ease.  By  means  of  a  crane  two  of  them  would 
seize  one  of  the  incandescent  ingots,  swing  it 
under  the  trip-hammer,  and  then  leave  the  fate  of 
the  shell  in  the  making  to  two  others,  who  would 
turn  the  thing  from  side  to  side,  while  a  fifth 
operated  the  hammer  itself. 

At  the  far  end  of  the  shed,  in  flame-raked  gloom, 
other  women  of  the  same  type  were  engaged  in 
casting.  The  ladle  was  operated  by  them  with 
a  dexterity  that  showed  that  neither  strength 
nor  skill  were  lacking. 

These  daughters  of  Vulcan  were  stripped  to 
the  waist.  Their  labor  seemed  to  be  the  only 
dress  they  needed.  In  fact,  it  never  struck  me 
that  there  was  anything  unconventional  about 
this  costume — the  whole  and  total  of  which  was 
a  large  leather  apron  and  skirt  of  something 
that  resembled  burlap.  Nor  did  they  seem  to 
mind  me. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  to  what  extent  man's 
place  in  labor  was  taken  by  woman  in  Central 
Europe  during  the  war.  On  the  farms  the 
women  had  always  done  much  of  the  hard  work. 
They  had  been  employed  in  large  numbers  in  the 
factories,  stores,  and  offices,  so  that  it  was 

296 


Photograph  from  Henry  Ruschin 

WOMEN   CARRYING   BRICKS   AT   BUDAPEST 

A  pathetic  aspect  of  the  policy  "Business  as  Usual"  inaugurated  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  European  War.     Central  European  women  worked  hard  before  the  war,  however. 


Photograph  from  Henry  Ruschin 


VILLAGE  SCENE   IN  HUNGARY 
These  women  and  children  struggled  to  keep  food  production  close  to  normal,  but  failed. 


WOMAN  AND  LABOR  IN  WAR 

generally  a  case  of  employing  more  women  in- 
stead of  surrendering  to  them  departments 
which  heretofore  had  been  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  men.  It  is  true  that  women  were  working 
on  street-car  lines  as  conductors,  and  in  a  few 
cases  as  drivers,  and  that  more  of  them  found 
employment  in  the  railroad  and  postal  service, 
but  the  work  they  did  was  well  within  the 
capacity  of  any  healthy  woman.  Woman's  work 
during  the  war  was  to  have  results  quite  foreign 
to  those  immediately  in  prospect. 

The  fact  that  women  were  employed  in  foun- 
dries and  steel-works,  in  the  manner  stated 
above,  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  evidence 
furnished  that  woman  is  able  to  do  much  of  the 
work  for  which  in  the  past  she  has  been  thought 
unsuited,  especially  if  her  deficiency  in  bodily 
strength  is  discounted  by  the  use  of  machinery. 
At  the  Weiss  works  I  was  told  that  the  women 
doing  heavy  work  with  the  aid  of  mechanical 
energy  were  in  every  respect  the  equal  of  the 
men  who  had  done  the  same  thing  before  the  war. 

The  war,  then,  has  demonstrated  in  Central 
Europe  that  the  woman  is  far  less  the  inferior 
of  man  than  was  held  formerly.  To  that  extent 
the  status  of  women  has  been  bettered.  When 
a  man  has  seen  members  of  the  frail  sex  fashion 
steel  into  shells  he  is  thereafter  less  inclined  to 
look  upon  that  sex  as  a  plaything  which  an  in- 
dulgent Scheme  provided  for  him.  Over  his 
mind  may  then  flash  the  thought  that  woman  is, 
after  all,  the  other  half  of  humanity— not  only 
the  mother  of  men,  but  their  equal,  not  a  mere 

297 


THE   IRON   RATION 

complement  of  the  human  race,  but  a  full-fledged 
member  of  it. 

A  little  later  I  was  the  guest  of  Halideh  Edib 
Hannym  Effendi  at  her  private  school  in  the 
Awret  Basar  quarter  of  Stamboul,  Constanti- 
nople. The  Turkish  feminist  and  promoter  of 
education  had  asked  mo  to  take  a  look  at  the 
establishment  in  which  she  was  training  Turkish 
girls  and  boys  along  the  lines  adhered  to  in  the 
Occident.  She  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  medressi — Koran  school  system — was 
all  wrong,  for  the  reason  that  it  sacrificed  the 
essential  to  the  non-essential.  Though  her  in- 
fluence with  the  Young  Turk  government  and  the 
Sheik-ul-Islam  was  great,  she  had  not  asked  that 
her  experiments  with  Western  education  be  un- 
dertaken at  the  expense  of  the  public.  Her 
father  is  wealthy. 

Several  teachers  had  been  invited  to  the  tea. 
Like  Halideh  Hannym  they  were  "Young  Turk" 
women,  despite  the  fact  that  most  of  them  still 
preferred  the  non-transparent  veil — yashmak — 
to  the  transparent  silk  buriindshuk. 

I  commented  upon  this  fact. 

"The  yashmak  does  indeed  typify  the  Old 
Turkey,"  said  Halideh  Hannym.  "But  is  it 
necessary  to  discard  it  because  one  takes  an  in- 
terest in  the  things  identified  as  progress?  To 
the  yashmak  are  attached  some  of  the  best  tradi- 
tions of  our  race;  it  comes  from  a  period  when 
the  Turk  was  really  great,  when  he  was  still  the 
master  of  a  goodly  share  of  Europe — when  he 
ruled,  instead  of  being  ruled." 

298 


WOMAN  AND  LABOR  IN  WAR 

All  of  which  was  true  enough. 

I  pointed  out  that  the  burundshiik,  however, 
was  the  promise  that  the  Turkish  woman  would 
soon  be  able  to  look  into  the  world — that  seclu- 
sion would  before  long  be  an  unpleasant  memory. 
To  that  my  hostess  and  her  other  guests  agreed. 

"The  war  has  been  a  good  thing  for  the  Turkish 
woman,"  I  ventured  to  remark. 

"It  has  been,"  admitted  Halideh  Hannym. 
"As  an  example,  the  university  has  been  opened 
to  women.  Three  years  ago  nobody  would  have 
thought  that  possible.  To-day  it  is  un  fait 
accompli.  The  world  does  move — even  here." 

Halideh  Hannym  did  not  mention  that  she  was 
largely  responsible  for  the  opening  of  the  Con- 
stantinople University  to  women.  Modesty  is 
one  of  her  jewels.  Nor  would  she  admit  that  her 
novels  and  her  trenchant  articles  in  the  Tanin 
had  much  to  do  with  the  progress  made  in  the 
emancipation  of  the  Turkish  woman. 

"If  Turkey  is  to  be  regenerated,  her  women 
must  do  it,"  said  Halideh  Hannym,  when  we  had 
come  to  speak  of  the  necessity  of  better  govern- 
ment in  the  Ottoman  Empire. 

That  one  sentence  comprises  at  once  the  field 
of  endeavor  and  the  motive  of  the  woman.  She 
believes  that  there  is  much  good  in  her  race,  but 
that  its  old-time  position  of  conqueror  and  ruler 
over  subject  races  had  been  fraught  with  all  the 
dangers  of  ease  and  idleness. 

"We  must  work- — work — work,"  she  said. 
"The  race  that  lies  fallow  for  too  long  a  time 
gives  the  weeds  too  much  chance.  Our  weak- 

299 


THE    IRON   RATION 

nesses  and  shortcomings  are  deep-rooted  now. 
But  I  believe  that  the  plowing  which  the  race 
had  during  the  present  war  will  again  make  it  a 
fertile  field  for  the  seeds  of  progress." 

Not  long  before  that  Sultan  Mahmed  Re"chad 
Khan  V.  had  told  me  the  same  thing. 

"We  of  the  Orient  are  known  to  you  West- 
erners as  fatalists,"  remarked  the  old  monarch  in 
the  course  of  the  audience.  "The  fatalist  is  ac- 
cepted to  be  a  person  who  lets  things  drift  along. 
This  means  that  any  fatalist  may  be  no  more  than 
a  lazy  and  shiftless  individual.  In  our  case  that 
is  not  true.  Our  belief  in  the  Fates — Kismet  and 
Kadar — is  to  blame  for  what  backwardness  there 
is  in  the  Ottoman  Empire.  But  it  will  be  dif- 
ferent in  the  future.  It  is  all  very  well  to  trust 
in  God,  but  we  must  work." 

I  told  Halideh  Hannym  that  probably  his  Maj- 
esty had  read  some  of  her  writings.  My  reason 
for  doing  this  was  largely  the  fact  that  as  yet  this 
gospel  of  work  was  little  known  in  Turkey. 

"That  is  not  impossible,"  thought  the  woman. 
"At  any  rate,  we  must  work,  and  it  is  the  women 
of  Turkey  who  must  set  the  example.  When 
the  Turks  have  more  generally  embraced  the 
idea  that  all  there  is  worth  while  in  life  is  labor, 
they  will  come  to  understand  their  non-Osmanli 
fellow-citizens  better.  I  look  upon  that  as  the 
solution  of  the  Ottoman  race  problems.  Labor 
is  the  one  platform  .  upon  which  all  men  can 
meet.  My  objective  is  to  have  the  races  in  the 
empire  meet  upon  it.  Turk,  Greek,  Armenian, 
and  Arab  will  get  along  together  only  when  they 

300 


WOMAN  AND  LABOR  IN  WAR 

come  to  heed  that  old  and  beautiful  saying  of  the 
Persians,  'How  pleasantly  dwell  together  those 
who  do  not  want  the  ox  at  the  same  time.'  That 
means  that  each  of  us  must  have  his  own  ox — 
work  ourselves,  in  other  words." 

And  Halideh  Hannym  applies  this  to  herself. 
There  is  no  reason  why  she  should  write  novels 
and  articles  to  make  money — she  does  not  need 
it,  so  far  as  I  know,  if  town  houses  and  a  country 
seat  on  the  island  of  Prinkipo  mean  anything  at 
all.  Halideh  Hannym  works  for  the  satisfaction 
there  is  in  knowing  that  duty  is  done  and  done 
to  the  limit  of  one's  ability,  and  within  that  limit 
lies  the  seizing  of  one's  opportunity.  Hers  came 
with  the  war,  and  while  others  stood  by  and  la- 
mented she  set  to  work  and  wrung  from  un- 
generous man  that  which  under  the  pressure  of 
the  times  he  thought  unimportant.  Halideh 
Hannym  and  her  friends  and  co-workers  gathered 
these  crumbs,  one  by  one,  and  then  made  a  loaf 
of  them,  and  that  loaf  is  not  small.  Some 
future  historian  may  say  that  the  emancipation 
of  the  Turkish  woman  was  due  to  the  Great 
War.  I  hope  that  he  will  not  overlook  Halideh 
Edib  Hannym  Effendi. 

The  women  of  Central  Europe  have  always 
worked  hard,  but  at  best  they  have  been  kept 
at  drudgery.  They  have  done  what  man  would 
not  do,  as  deeming  it  below  his  masculine  dig- 
nity, or  what  he  could  not  do.  The  result  of 
this  has  not  been  a  happy  one  for  the  women. 
The  "lord  of  the  household"  has  in  the  course 
of  time  come  to  look  upon  his  wife  as  a  sort  of 

301 


THE   IRON    RATION 

inferior  creature,  fit  indeed  to  be  the  first  ser- 
vant in  the  house,  but  unfit  to  be  elevated 
above  that  sphere.  The  rights  of  equality  which 
he  takes  from  his  mate  he  generally  bestows 
upon  his  daughters,  and  later  he  is  inconsistent 
enough  to  have  them  enter  the  servitude  of 
his  wife.  Thus  it  came  that  the  majority  of 
all  women  in  Central  Europe  thought  of  noth- 
ing but  the  stomach  of  the  lord  and  master, 
and  when  this  was  attended  to  they  would  put 
in  their  spare  moments  knitting  socks. 

The  picture  of  the  German  Hausfrau  may  ap- 
peal to  many.  It  does  not  to  me.  Nothing  can 
be  so  disheartening  as  to  spend  an  evening  with 
a  family  whose  women  will  talk  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  the  clicking  of  the  knitting-needles. 
The  making  of  socks  should  be  left  to  machinery, 
even  if  they  are  intended  to  warm  the  "Trilbys" 
of  the  lord  and  master. 

I  am  glad  to  report  that  a  large  crevasse  was 
torn  into  this  Hausfrau  notion  by  the  war.  With 
millions  of  men  at  the  front,  the  women  had  to 
stand  on  their  feet,  as  it  were.  The  clinging 
ivy  became  a  tree.  Though  the  ubiquitous 
knitting-needle  was  not  entirely  dispensed  with, 
it  came  to  be  used  for  the  sake  of  economy,  not 
as  the  symbol  of  immolation  on  the  altar  of  the 
Herr  im  Hause. 

The  woman  who  has  fought  for  bread  in  the 
food-line  is  not  likely  to  ever  again  look  upon 
the  breadwinner  of  the  family  with  that  awe 
which  once  swayed  her  when  she  thought  of 
"his"  magnanimity  in  giving  her  good-naturedly 

302 


WOMAN  AND  LABOR  IN  WAR 

what  she  had  earned  by  unceasing  effort  and 
unswerving  devotion. 

Thus  has  come  in  Central  Europe  a  change 
that  is  no  less  great  and  sweeping  than  what 
has  taken  place  in  Turkey.  All  concerned 
should  be  truly  thankful.  The  nation  that  does 
not  give  its  women  the  opportunity  to  do  their 
best  in  the  socio-economic  sphere  which  nature 
has  assigned  them  handicaps  itself  badly.  Not 
to  do  that  results  in  woman  being  little  more 
than  the  plaything  of  man,  or  at  best  his  drudge, 
and,  since  man  is  the  son  of  woman,  no  good 
can  come  of  this.  The  cowed  woman  cannot 
but  have  servile  offspring,  and  to  this  we  must 
look  for  the  explanation  why  the  European  in 
general  is  still  ruled  by  classes  that  look  upon 
their  subjects  as  chattels.  A  social  aggregate 
in  which  the  families  are  ruled  by  autocratic 
husbands  and  fathers  could  have  no  other  than 
an  autocratic  government.  I  believe  that  a  pine 
forest  is  composed  of  pines,  despite  the  fact 
that  here  and  there  some  other  trees  may  live 
in  it. 

The  war  has  upset  that  scheme  in  Central 
Europe.  While  the  labor  of  woman  was  valu- 
able to  the  state,  through  its  contributions  to 
the  economic  and  military  resources  of  the  na- 
tion, it  also  fostered  in  the  woman  that  self- 
reliance  which  is  the  first  step  toward  inde- 
pendence. Of  this  the  plow-woman  and  the 
women  in  the  steel-works  are  the  factors  and 
Halideh  Hannym  the  sum.  While  the  plow- 
woman  and  steel-workers  were  unconsciously 

303 


THE    IRON    RATION 

active  for  that  purpose,  the  Turkish  feminist 
had  already  made  it  the  objective  of  a  spreading 
social  policy. 

What  poor  pets  those  women  in  the  steel-mill 
would  make! 


XVIII 

WAR  AND  MASS  PSYCHOLOGY 

HARASSED  by  the  shortage  in  everything 
needed  to  sustain  life,  plagued  by  the 
length  of  the  war  and  the  great  sacrifices  in  life 
and  limb  that  had  to  be  made,  and  stunned  by  the 
realization  that  Germany  had  not  a  friend,  any- 
where, aside  from  her  allies  and  certain  weak  neu- 
trals, the  German  people  began  to  take  stock  of 
their  household  and  its  management.  It  seemed 
to  many  that,  after  all,  something  was  wrong. 

I  ran  into  this  quite  often  in  1916. 

During  the  Somme  offensive  in  August  of  that 
year  I  was  talking  to  a  German  general — his 
name  won't  matter.  The  man  could  not  under- 
stand why  almost  the  entire  world  should  be 
the  enemy  of  Germany.  I  had  just  returned  to 
Central  Europe  from  a  trip  that  took  me  through 
Holland,  Denmark,  and  parts  of  Norway;  I  had 
read  the  English,  French,  and  American  news- 
papers, with  those  of  Latin  Europe  and  Latin 
America  thrown  in,  and  I  was  not  in  a  position  to 
paint  for  the  soldier  the  picture  he  may  have  been 
looking  for.  I  told  him  that  the  outlook  was 
bad — the  worst  possible. 

305 


THE    IRON    RATION 

He  wanted  to  know  why  this  should  be  so.  I 
gave  him  my  opinion. 

Not  far  from  us  was  going  on  a  drumfire  which 
at  times  reached  an  unprecedented  intensity. 
The  general  looked  reflectively  across  the  shell- 
raked,  fume-ridden  terrain.  He  seemed  to  be 
as  blue  as  indigo. 

"Tell  me,  Mr.  Schreiner,  are  we  really  as  bad 
as  they  make  us  out  to  be?"  he  said,  after  a  while. 

The  question  was  frankly  put.  It  deserved  a 
frank  reply. 

"No,"  I  said,  "you  are  not.  Slander  has 
been  an  incident  to  all  wars.  It  is  that  now. 
The  fact  is  that  your  government  has  made  too 
many  mistakes.  War  is  the  proof  that  might 
is  right.  Your  government  has  been  too  bru- 
tally frank  in  admitting  that  and  suiting  its 
action  accordingly.  Belgium  was  a  mistake  and 
the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  was  a  mistake. 
You  are  now  reaping  the  harvest  you  sowed 
then." 

My  questioner  wished  to  know  if  sans  Belgium, 
sans  Lusitania  the  position  of  Germany  would  be 
better. 

That  question  was  highly  hypothetical.  I  re- 
plied that  an  opinion  in  that  direction  would 
not  be  worth  much  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it 
could  not  cover  the  actual  causes  of  the  war 
and  its  present  aspects,  of  which  the  case  of 
Belgium  and  the  work  of  the  submarine  were 
but  mere  incidents. 

"Seen  objectively,  I  should  say  that  the  in- 
vasion of  Belgium  and  the  use  of  the  submarine 

306 


WAR  AND  MASS  PSYCHOLOGY 

against  merchantmen  has  merely  intensified  the 
world's  dislike  of  much  that  is  German.  I  doubt 
that  much  would  have  been  different  without 
Belgium  and  without  the  Lusitania"  was  my 
reply.  "This  war  started  as  a  struggle  between 
gluttons.  One  set  of  them  wanted  to  keep  what 
it  had,  and  the  other  set  wanted  to  take  more 
than  what  it  had  already  taken." 

Not  very  long  afterward  General  Falkenhayn, 
the  former  German  chief  of  staff,  then  commander 
of  the  Ninth  German  Army  against  the  Rou- 
manians, asked  a  similar  question  at  dinner  in 
Kronstadt,  Transylvania.  He,  too,  failed  to  un- 
derstand why  the  entire  world  should  have 
turned  down  its  thumb  against  the  Germans. 
My  reply  to  him  was  more  or  less  the  same. 

A  regular  epidemic  of  introspective  reasoning 
seemed  to  be  on.  At  the  Roumanian  end  of  the 
Torzburger  Pass  I  lunched  a  few  days  later  with 
Gen.  Elster  von  Elstermann.  He  also  wanted  to 
know  why  the  Germans  were  so  cordially  hated. 
Gen.  Krafft  von  Delmansingen,  whose  guest  I 
was  at  Heltau,  at  the  head  of  the  Voros  Torony 
gorge,  showed  the  same  interest. 

"It  seems  that  there  is  nothing  we  can  do  but 
make  ourselves  respected,"  he  said,  tersely.  "I 
am  one  of  those  Germans  who  would  like  to  be 
loved.  But  that  seems  to  be  impossible.  Very 
well!  We  will  see!  We  will  see  what  the  sword 
can  do.  When  a  race  has  come  to  be  so  thor- 
oughly detested  as  we  seem  to  be,  there  is  noth- 
ing left  it  but  to  make  itself  respected.  I  fear 
that  in  the  future  that  must  be  our  policy." 

307 


THE    IRON   RATION 

I  made  the  remark  that  possibly  it  was  not 
the  race  that  was  being  detested.  The  general 
is  a  Bavarian — at  least,  he  was  commanding 
Bavarian  troops. 

"So  long  as  these  shouters  can  make  common 
cause  with  autocratic  Russia,  they  have  no 
reason  to  fasten  upon  the  Prussians  every  sin 
they  can  think  of.  I  am  not  one  of  those  who 
think  that  everything  in  Germany  is  perfect. 
Far  from  it.  We  have  more  faults  than  a  dog 
has  fleas.  Never  mind,  though!  To  lie  down 
and  beseech  mercy  on  our  knees  is  not  one  of 
these  faults." 

I  believe  that  Gen.  Krafft  von  Delmansingen 
spoke  for  the  army  on  that  occasion  without 
knowing  it.  What  he  said  was  the  attitude  of 
the  vast  majority  of  officers  and  men. 

Shortly  before  I  had  interviewed  Baron  Burian, 
then  Austro-Hungarian  Minister  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, on  that  and  related  subjects.  I  will  state 
here  that  he  was  the  most  professorly  foreign 
minister  I  have  met.  His  voice  never  rose  above 
the  conversational  tone.  Though  a  Magyar,  he 
was  evenness  of  temper  personified. 

"I  suppose  there  is  nothing  we  can  do  in  that 
direction,"  he  said,  slowly.  "What  the  world 
wishes  to  believe  it  will  believe.  We  cannot 
change  that.  Whether  it  is  true  or  not  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  cause  and  the  outcome 
of  this  war.  And  what  difference  will  it  make 
in  the  end  whether  we  are  called  barbarians  or 
not?  I  know  that  a  good  many  people  resent 
what  they  say  in  the  Entente  newspapers,  and 

308 


WAR  AND   MASS   PSYCHOLOGY 

I  suppose  the  Entente  public  resents  a  great  deal 
of  what  is  being  said  in  our  newspapers.  That 
is  a  small  matter.  There  is  nothing  to  be  done, 
for  what  we  could  do  would  be  a  waste  of  effort. 
Let  them  talk.  No!  There  is  nothing  I  wish 
to  say  in  connection  with  that.  Our  position  is 
quite  defensible.  But  to  defend  it  would  merely 
stir  up  more  talk.  By  the  time  the  hostile 
American  newspapers  have  taken  care  of  all  that 
is  being  said  against  us,  they  must  have  used  so 
much  paper  that  it  would  be  a  shame  to  get  them 
to  use  more  on  refutation." 

Dr.  Arthur  Zimmermann,  at  that  time  Under- 
secretary of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  was  more 
aggressive  when  I  suggested  the  subject  for  the 
substance  of  an  interview.  Backing  his  position 
with  certain  documents  that  were  found  in  the 
Belgian  state  archives,  according  to  which  there 
was  some  understanding  between  the  British, 
French,  and  Belgians  for  the  contingency  of  a 
German  invasion,  he  held  that  Germany  was 
entirely  right  in  demanding  access  to  France 
through  Belgian  territory.  He  was  not  sure, 
however,  that  doing  this  had  been  a  good  move 
politically.  The  military  necessity  for  the  step 
was  something  he  could  not  judge,  he  said. 

Doctor  Zimmermann  said  that  the  sinking  of 
the  Lusitania  was  a  bad  blunder.  Responsibility 
for  the  act  he  would  not  fix,  however.  The  thing 
was  not  within  his  province.  So  far  as  he  knew, 
it  had  not  been  the  intention  to  torpedo  the  ship 
in  a  manner  that  would  cause  her  immediate 
sinking.  If  a  ship  was  torpedoed  in  the  fore  or 

21  309 


THE    IRON    RATION 

aft  holds  she  would  float  for  hours  and  might 
even  be  able  to  reach  port  under  her  own  steam. 

"There  is  a  great  deal  of  mania  in  this  Ger- 
manophobe  sentiment  that  is  sweeping  the 
world,"  he  said.  "For  the  time  being,  we  are 
everybody's  b&e  noire.  The  world  must  have 
somebody  on  whom  it  can  pick.  Right  now 
we  are  that  somebody.  Quite  recently,  during 
the  Boer  War,  it  was  Great  Britain.  During  the 
Japanese  War  the  entire  world,  Germany  ex- 
cepted,  made  common  cause  with  the  Japs 
against  the  Russians,  forgetting  somehow  that 
this  was  a  war  of  the  yellow  race  against  the 
white.  To-day  we  are  it.  To-morrow  it  will 
be  somebody  else.  It  is  always  fashionable  to 
hate  somebody.'* 

That  was  the  cool,  diplomatic  view  of  it. 

But  the  Central  European  public  was  more  in- 
clined to  take  the  view  of  the  officer  I  had  met 
on  the  Somme  front.  It  was  chagrined,  disap- 
pointed, grieved,  stunned. 

The  question  was  asked  whether  the  invasion 
of  Belgium  had  been  really  necessary.  Many 
held  that  the  German  general  staff  should  have 
concentrated  a  large  force  on  the  Belgian  border, 
with  orders  not  to  invade  the  country  until  the 
French  had  done  so. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  would  have 
been  the  better  policy.  The  contention  of  the 
German  government  that  the  French  contem- 
plated going  through  Belgium  and  had  for  the  act 
the  consent  of  the  Belgian  government  and  the 
acquiescence  of  the  British  government  will  not 

310 


WAR  AND   MASS   PSYCHOLOGY 

invalidate  my  assertion  in  the  least.  Granted 
that  such  an  agreement  had  been  really  made 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  French  army  cer- 
tain tactical  advantages,  it  would  be  the 
policy  of  any  wise  and  calm  government  to  wait 
for  the  execution  of  the  plan.  There  would  be 
no  Belgian  question  at  all  to-day  if  the  Germans 
had  given  the  French  the  chance  they  are  said  to 
have  sought.  That  the  French  reached  out  for 
the  German  border  via  Belgium  would  not  have 
made  the  least  difference  in  the  sum  of  military 
operations,  since  it  was  first  a  question  of  keeping 
the  French  army  out  of  Germany,  and,  secondly, 
of  defeating  the  French  forces  wherever  met. 

The  few  days  gained,  and  the  slight  military 
advantages  alleged  to  have  been  procured,  were 
certainly  not  worth  what  Belgium  was  in  the 
end  to  cost  the  Germans.  This  is  all  the  more 
true  when  it  is  considered  that  the  reduction  of 
Lidge  and  other  Belgian  fortifications  might  have 
never  become  a  necessity,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  documents  found  in  Brussels  have 
never  convinced  me  that  the  Belgian  govern- 
ment was  acting  in  bad  faith. 

It  seems  that  many  have  overlooked  the  fact 
that,  between  tentative  arrangements  made  by 
the  Belgian  general  staff  and  the  allied  govern- 
ments and  an  authorization  by  the  Belgian  parlia- 
ment that  war  should  be  declared  against  Ger- 
many, there  is  a  great  difference.  The  former 
existed ;  the  latter  had  yet  to  be  obtained.  In  case 
it  had  been  obtained,  in  order  to  give  the  French 
troops  marching  through  Belgium  the  status  they 

311 


THE    IRON    RATION 

needed,  there  was  still  time  for  the  Germans  to 
do  what  they  did,  under  martial  conditions  that 
would  have  declared  the  French  troops  in  Bel- 
gium mere  raiders,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Belgium 
a  violator  of  her  neutral  status,  on  the  other. 
Belgium  permitting  the  use  of  her  territory  by 
French  troops  about  to  fall  upon  Germany  would 
have  been  obliged  to  also  admit  German  troops, 
or  declare  war  against  Germany.  That  case  is 
so  simple  that  few  can  understand  it,  as  a  rule. 

That  such  might  have  been  the  initial  events 
of  the  war  began  finally  to  dawn  upon  all  think- 
ing Germans.  It  occurred  to  many  now  that 
there  was  ample  front  in  Alsace-Lorraine;  so 
much,  in  fact,  that  the  French  succeeded  in 
taking  and  holding  quite  a  little  of  it.  There 
was,  also,  Luxembourg. 

Though  mobilizations  are  like  the  avalanche 
that  starts  at  the  mountain-top  and  thereafter 
obeys  but  one  law,  gravity,  it  was  not  impossible 
for  the  German  general  staff  to  divert  south- 
ward the  troops  bound  for  the  Belgian  border. 
A  day  might  have  been  lost.  But  even  that 
seems  uncertain,  since  troops  were  needed  along 
the  Belgian  border,  anyway,  in  view  of  what 
Berlin  claims  to  have  known.  No  matter  how 
the  thing  is  looked  at,  in  the  end  it  resolves  itself 
into  the  question  whether  or  not  there  was  a 
difference  in  meeting  French  troops  in  Belgium 
or  on  their  own  soil.  It  was  the  objective  of  the 
Germans  to  defeat  the  French  army.  Whether 
that  was  done  in  the  line  of  the  French  forti- 
fications along  the  Franco-Belgian  border,  as 

312 


WAR   AND   MASS   PSYCHOLOGY 

came  to  pass,  or  whether  that  was  done  in  the 
line  of  the  fortifications  along  the  German- 
Belgian  border,  could  make  little  difference  to  a 
government  and  general  staff  able  to  think  on 
its  feet. 

Since  governments  at  war  must  of  necessity 
take  it  for  granted  that  only  the  men  at  the 
head  of  affairs  have  the  right  to  think,  this  aspect 
of  the  invasion  of  Belgium  has  been  but  rarely 
treated  in  public  print  in  Germany.  I  will  say, 
however,  that  several  military  writers  have  at- 
tempted to  speak  on  the  subject,  and  have  usu- 
ally been  called  to  task  for  their  hardihood. 

To-day  the  average  German  is  not  at  all  sure 
that  "Belgium"  was  necessary.  He  has  no  in- 
terest in  Belgium,  differing  in  this  from  his 
industrial  and  commercial  lords.  Most  men  and 
women  with  whom  I  discussed  the  subject  were 
of  the  opinion  that  "one  Alsace-Lorraine  is 
enough." 

The  greatest  shock  the  German  public  re- 
ceived was  the  news  that  the  Lusitania  had  been 
sunk.  For  a  day  or  two  a  minority  held  that 
the  action  was  eminently  correct.  But  even  that 
minority  dwindled  rapidly. 

For  many  weeks  the  German  public  was  in 
doubt  as  to  what  it  all  meant.  The  thinking 
element  was  groping  about  in  the  dark.  What 
was  the  purpose  of  picking  out  a  ship  with  so 
many  passengers  aboard?  Then  the  news  came 
that  the  passengers  had  been  warned  not  to 
travel  on  the  steamer.  That  removed  all  doubt 
that  the  vessel  had  not  been  singled  out  for  attack. 

313 


THE    IRON    RATION 

The  government  remained  silent.  It  had 
nothing  to  say.  The  press,  standing  in  fear  of 
the  censor  and  his  power  to  suspend  publication, 
was  mute.  Little  by  little  it  became  known 
that  there  had  been  an  accident.  The  commander 
of  the  submarine  sent  out  to  torpedo  the  ship 
had  been  instructed  to  fire  at  the  foreward  hold 
so  that  the  passengers  could  get  off  before  the 
vessel  sank.  Somehow  that  plan  had  miscarried. 
Either  a  boiler  of  the  ship  or  an  ammunition 
cargo  had  given  unlooked-for  assistance  to  the 
torpedo.  The  ship  had  gone  down. 

The  defense  made  by  the  German  government 
was  based  largely  on  points  in  international  law 
that  govern  the  conduct  of  raiding  cruisers. 
But  the  submarine  was  not  a  cruiser.  It  could 
not  save  many  lives  under  any  circumstances. 

People  shook  their  heads  and  said  nothing. 
It  was  best  to  say  nothing,  since  to  speak  was 
treasonable. 

Nothing  weaned  the  German  public  so  much 
away  from  the  old  order  of  government  as  did 
the  Lusitania  affair.  The  act  seemed  useless, 
wanton,  ill-considered.  The  doctrine  of  govern- 
mental infallibility  came  near  being  wrecked. 
The  Germans  began  to  lose  confidence  in  the 
wisdom  of  the  men  who  had  been  credited  in  the 
past  with  being  the  very  quintessence  of  all 
knowledge,  mundane  and  celestial.  Admiral 
Tirpitz  had  to  go.  Germany's  allies,  too,  were 
not  pleased.  In  Austria  and  Hungary  the  act 
was  severely  criticized,  and  in  Turkey  I  found 
much  disapproval  of  the  thing. 

314 


WAR  AND   MASS  PSYCHOLOGY 

While  the  greater  part  of  the  Central  European 
public  accepted  that  there  had  been  some  ne- 
cessity for  the  sinking  of  the  ship,  seeing  that 
she  carried  freight  of  a  military  character,  there 
were  many  who  thought  that  in  such  cases  politics 
and  not  military  necessity  should  govern  con- 
duct. These  people  were  better  politicians  than 
those  in  the  government.  But  the  others  were 
better  militarists  and  militarism  was  in  control, 
being  seated  more  firmly  as  each  day  brought 
more  enemies,  open  and  potential.  The  case 
was  much  like  that  of  a  family  that  may  have 
difficulties  within,  but  which  would  set  in  con- 
certed action  upon  any  outsider  who  might 
think  it  well  to  intervene. 

This  was  to  be  the  fundamental  quality  of 
German  public  sentiment  throughout  the  course 
of  the  war.  As  the  ring  of  enemies  grew  stronger 
and  tightened  more  upon  the  military  resources 
of  the  empire,  the  public  grew  harder  and  harder. 
The  pressure  exerted  being  concentric,  it  grouped 
the  German  public  closer  and  harder  to  its  cen- 
ter— the  government.  It  was  no  longer  the  ab- 
solute devotion  of  other  years  which  the  Ger- 
mans brought  their  government — hardly  that. 
It  was  the  determination  to  win  the  war  despite 
the  government  and  despite  what  others  thought 
and  held  of  that  government.  The  fact  that 
government  there  must  be  is  too  clear  to  the 
German  to  make  him  act  toward  his  Obrigkeit 
with  the  impetuousness  that  has  characterized 
events  in  Russia,  where  this  was  possible  only 
because  for  decades  many  there  have  held  the 

315 


THE    IRON    RATION 

view  that  the  time  of  anarchical  society  was  at 
hand. 

This  state  of  mind  made  possible  the  accept- 
ance of  the  heavy  sacrifices  which  were  demanded 
by  the  war.  The  very  private  in  the  trenches  felt 
that  he  would  have  to  risk  all  against  a  world  of 
enemies. 

Self-pity  in  the  individual  leads  usually  to 
maudlinism.  The  trait  is  not  foreign  to  German 
temperament.  Self-pity  in  the  aggregate  is  a 
totally  different  thing.  It  is  the  quality  that 
makes  martyrs  of  men,  so  long  as  there  is  an 
audience.  It  is  sentiment  minus  all  sickly  self- 
indulgence,  and  that  is  fortitude — the  thing  that 
will  cause  men  to  adhere  to  an  idea  or  principle 
even  in  the  face  of  the  stake  at  the  auto  da  fe. 

It  was  this  spirit,  also,  that  caused  the  German 
multitude  to  bear  with  patience  the  many  dep- 
rivations and  burdens  due  to  the  war. 

In  Austria  things  were  slightly  different.  The 
Austrian-German  is  probably  more  of  Celtic 
than  of  Germanic  blood.  He  is  more  volatile. 
Great  issues  do  not  hold  his  attention  long.  He 
becomes  easily  a  slave  to  habit. 

To  the  Austrian-German  the  war  was  never 
more  than  a  nuisance.  It  interfered  with  his 
business;  above  all,  his  enjoyments;  it  drove 
him  from  his  favorite  cafe  and  his  clandestine 
lady-love.  It  upset  life  for  him  thoroughly. 
What  was  the  preservation  of  the  Austrian 
Empire  to  a  man  who  shared  that  empire  with 
Czech,  Pole,  Ruthene,  Slovene,  Croat,  Italian, 
Bosniak  Mussulman,  and  in  a  sense  with  the 

316 


WAR  AND   MASS  PSYCHOLOGY 

Magyar  and  Roumanian?  The  feeling  of  race 
interest  would  have  to  remain  foreign  to  such 
a  man,  just  as  it  was  a  stranger  to  all  the  others 
who  fought  at  his  side.  Of  the  ten  races  in  the 
Dual  Monarchy  only  the  Slav  group  could  under- 
stand one  another  without  special  study  of  the 
other's  language.  Czech,  Pole,  Ruthene,  Slo- 
vene, Croat,  and  Bosniak  could  with  little  diffi- 
culty master  one  another's  language.  German, 
so  far  as  it  was  not  familiar  in  the  form  of  mili- 
tary commands,  was  unknown  to  most  of  them. 
Magyar  was  a  total  stranger  to  Slav  and  German 
alike,  and  Italian  and  Roumanian  meant  noth- 
ing to  any  of  these. 

I  remember  philosophizing  a  bit  at  the  exe- 
cution wall  of  the  fortress  of  Peterwardein  in 
Hungary.  To  the  left  of  me  stood  a  little  gallows 
— one  of  those  peculiar  strangulation  implements 
they  use  in  Austria-Hungary — descendant  of 
the  Spanish  garrote,  I  believe.  On  the  ancient 
brick  wall  were  the  marks  left  there  by  chipping 
steel  bullets.  Many  a  Serb  seditionist  had  seen 
the  light  of  day  for  the  last  time  in  that  old 
moat.  More  of  them  were  behind  the  grilled 
peepholes  of  the  casemate.  That  morning  two 
or  three  had  died  where  I  stood. 

In  that  there  was  nothing  unusual,  perhaps. 
But  on  my  right  was  a  large  poster,  framed  with 
the  Hungarian  national  colors,  red,  white,  and 
green.  The  poster  drew  attention  to  a  certain 
paragraph  of  the  treason  laws.  It  defined  trea- 
son poignantly,  precisely. 

I  read  the  paragraph  in  German,  concluded 

817 


THE    IRON    RATION 

that  the  Hungarian  said  the  same,  surmised  that 
the  Slav  languages  in  the  country  did  not  differ 
greatly  from  one  another,  found  that  Roumanian 
I  could  almost  read,  and  saw  that  the  Italian 
version  said  the  same  thing  as  the  German.  I 
suppose  French  had  been,  left  off  the  poster  for 
the  reason  that  the  Austro-Hungarian  inter- 
monarchical  classes,  which  now  use  that  language 
instead  of  Latin,  as  in  the  days  of  Marie  Therese, 
did  not  need  to  have  their  attention  drawn  to 
the  danger  of  sedition. 

_\The  gallows  and  execution  wall  seemed  fit 
companions  to  that  poster.  One  might  not  have 
missed  the  other  when  seeing  the  one,  but  still 
there  was  harmony  between  the  two.  People 
who  do  not  understand  one  another,  be  that  a 
question  of  language  or  temperament,  have  no 
business  to  live  together.  But  the  thing  happens 
often  in  wedlock,  and  governments  at  peace  and 
leisure  say  that  it  is  perfectly  feasible  from  the 
viewpoints  of  state  interests. 

I  found  that  Das  Reich — the  empire — had  no 
meaning  to  any  member  of  the  Austro-Hungarian 
group.  But  what  held  that  conglomerate  to- 
gether? The  Emperor-King. 

Soon  I  found  that  nothing  had  changed  in 
Austria-Hungary  since  the  days  when  the  Em- 
press-Queen Marie  Therese,  with  her  infant  son 
in  her  arms,  and  tears  in  her  eyes  and  on  her 
cheeks,  had  implored  the  Magyar  nobles  to  come 
to  her  assistance  against  Frederick  the  Great. 
The  Magyar  nobles  tore  off  their  fur  kalpacks, 
drew  their  swords,  and  cried: 

318 


WAR  AND   MASS  PSYCHOLOGY 

"Moriamur  pro  rege  nostro,  Maria  Theresa!" 

That  was  still  the  mass  psychology  in  the  dual 
monarchy.  The  old  Emperor-King  called  to  bat- 
tle, and  that  was  enough.  Later  the  new  Em- 
peror-King renewed  the  call,  and  it  was  still 
enough. 

What  the  soldiers  did  in  the  trenches  the  civil- 
ian population  did  at  home — a  little  half-heart- 
edly at  times,  a  little  slovenly  occasionally,  but 
reliably  at  all  times. 

"We  must  help  our  Macedonian  brothers. 
The  Bulgars  can  no  longer  remain  deaf  to  their 
prayers  to  be  relieved  of  the  oppression  of  the 
Serbs,"  said  the  Bulgarian  Premier,  Doctor 
Radoslavoff,  to  me  in  February,  1915. 

In  October  of  the  same  year  he  said  during  an 
interview: 

"There  is  not  enough  room  for  two  strong 
states  on  the  Balkan  peninsula.  Yet  there  must 
be  a  strong  state  if  the  Balkan  problem  is  to  be 
eliminated.  That  strong  state  will  be  either 
Bulgaria  or  Serbia.  We  desire  that  it  be  Bul- 
garia. It  will  be  Bulgaria  when  the  Mace- 
donians are  permitted  to  join  her.  The  time 
has  come  when  they  can  do  that.  For  that 
reason  we  go  to  war  on  the  side  of  the  Central 
Powers." 

The  two  statements  picture  Bulgarian  mass 
psychology  exactly.  The  Bulgar  wanted  the 
Macedonian  to  be  one  with  him  nationally,  as  he 
is  racially.  He  wanted  the  ancient  Bulgar  cap- 
ital of  Monastir  to  lie  again  within  Bulgarland. 
With  that  in  perspective  he  had  driven  the  Turk 

319 


THE    IRON    RATION 

from  the  peninsula;  for  that  purpose  he  wanted  to 
make  the  Serb  small. 

I  found  the  same  iron  determination  through- 
out Bulgaria  and  in  all  walks  of  life.  The  shope 
farmer,  the  shepherd  in  the  planina,  the  monks 
at  Rila  Monastir,  the  fishermen  at  Varna,  the 
city  and  towns  people,  were  all  for  that  idea. 
And  in  so  stern  a  manner!  To  me  the  Bulgar 
will  always  be  the  Prussian  of  the  Balkan.  He 
is  just  as  morose,  just  as  blunt,  and  just  as 
sincere. 

I  had  occasion  to  discuss  Turkey's  entry  into 
the  European  War  with  his  Majesty,  Sultan 
Mahmed  Re"  chad  Khan  V.,  Ghazi,  Caliph  of  all 
the  Faithful,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

"They  [the  Allies]  deny  us  the  right  to  exist," 
said  the  old  man.  "We  have  the  right  to  exist 
and  we  are  willing  to  fight  for  that.  I  have  led 
a  very  peaceful  life  always.  I  abhor  bloodshed, 
and  I  am  sincere  when  I  say  that  I  mourn  for 
those  who  died  with  the  ships  [the  crews  of  the 
battleships  Bouvet  and  Irresistible  whom  I  had 
seen  go  down  with  their  ships  on  March  18th, 
an  event  which  the  Sultan  had  asked  me  to 
describe  to  him].  It  must  be  hard  to  die  when 
one  is  so  young.  But  what  can  we  do?  The 
Russians  want  the  Bosphorus,  this  city,  and  the 
Dardanelles.  They  have  never  belonged  to  the 
Russians.  If  there  is  anybody  who  has  a  better 
right  to  them  than  we  have,  it  is  the  Greeks. 
We  took  these  things  from  them.  But  we  will 
not  give  them  up  to  anybody  without  the  best 
fight  the  race  of  Osmanli  has  yet  put  up." 

320 


WAR  AND   MASS   PSYCHOLOGY 

Like  Scheherazade,  I  then  continued  my  ac- 
count of  the  bombardment. 

Said  Halim  Pasha,  then  Grand  Vizier,  ex- 
pressed himself  somewhat  similarly.  He  was 
more  diplomatically  specific. 

"The  hour  of  Turkey  was  come,"  he  said. 
"That  conflagration  could  not  end  without  the 
Allied  fleet  appearing  off  the  Dardanelles,  and  the 
Russian  fleet  off  the  Bosphorus.  That  would  be 
the  smash-up  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  The  En- 
tente governments  offered  us  guarantees  that 
for  thirty  years  Ottoman  territory  would  be 
held  inviolate  by  them.  Guarantees — guarantees ! 
What  do  they  amount  to !  We  have  had  so  many 
guarantees.  When  Turkey  gets  a  guarantee  it 
is  merely  a  sign  that  there  is  one  more  pledge  to 
be  broken.  We  are  through  with  guarantees. 
We  joined  the  Germans  because  they  offered 
none." 

All  this  in  the  most  fluent  Oxford  English  a 
man  ever  used.  Said  Halim  is  an  Egyptian  and 
somewhat  directly  related  to  the  Great  Prophet 
in  the  line  of  Ayesha. 

Enver  Pasha,  the  Prussian  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire,  Minister  of  War,  generalissimo,  Young 
Turk  leader,  efficiency  apostle,  Pan-German,  and 
what  not,  told  me  the  same  thing  on  several 
occasions. 

"Nonsense,  nonsense!"  he  would  say  in  sharp 
and  rasping  German.  "We  are  not  fighting  for 
the  Germans.  We  are  fighting  for  ourselves. 
Mark  that!  They  told  us  we'd  be  all  right  if  we 
stayed  neutral.  Didn't  believe  it.  Nonsense! 

321 


THE    IRON    RATION 

Russians  wanted  Constantinople.  We  know 
them.  They  can  have  it  when  we  are  through 
with  it.  It  was  a  case  of  lose  all,  win  all.  I 
am  for  win  all.  Fired  five  thousand  of  the  old- 
school  officers  to  win  this  war.  Will  win  it. 
Country  bled  white,  of  course.  Too  many  wars 
altogether.  First,  Balkan  War,  Italian  War. 
Now  this.  Better  to  go  to  hell  with  Germans 
than  take  more  favors  from  Entente.  Those 
who  don't  like  us  don't  have  to.  Nobody  need 
love  us.  Let  them  keep  out  of  our  way.  May 
go  down  in  this.  If  we  do  we'll  show  world  how 
Turk  can  go  down  with  colors  flying.  This  is 
Turkey's  last  chance." 

It  took  Talaat  Bey,  then  Minister  of  the  In- 
terior, now  Grand  Vizier,  to  epitomize  Turkey  for 
me.  He  is  a  man  of  the  plainest  of  people. 
When  the  Turkish  revolution  of  1908  came  Talaat 
was  earning  150  francs  a  month  as  a  telegraph 
operator  in  Salonica.  He  saw  his  chance,  and 
he  and  Dame  Opportunity  have  been  great 
friends  ever  since.  At  that,  he  is  not  a  lean 
bundle  of  nerves  like  Enver  Pasha,  his  great 
twin  in  Young  Turkism.  He  is  heavy,  good- 
natured,  thick-necked,  stubborn,  bullet-headed, 
shrewd. 

"  Tres  bien,  cher  frere"  ("We  meet  on  the  same 
pavement"),  he  said  to  me  in  the  best  of  Levan- 
tine French.  "I  can't  say  that  this  war  is  any 
too  popular  with  some  of  our  people.  They  have 
had  enough  of  wars,  and  revolutions,  and  trouble, 
and  taxes,  and  exploitation  by  concessionnaires, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  I  suppose  I  would  feel 

322 


WAR  AND  MASS  PSYCHOLOGY 

the  same  way  about  it  were  I  a  Greek  or  an 
Armenian.  But  I  am  Turk.  We  Turks  felt  that 
the  European  War  would  be  the  last  of  us.  The 
Russians  want  Constantinople  and  its  waterways. 
The  Italians  want  Cilicia,  forgetting  entirely  that 
the  Greeks  have  priority  in  claim.  I  suppose 
Thrace  would  have  gone  to  the  Bulgars  when 
lot  was  cast  for  the  shreds  of  the  mantle  of  the 
Osmanli,  and  Great  Britain  would  have  taken 
what  was  left,  which  would  have  been  not  so 
little. 

"When  a  man  is  up  against  that  he  does  the 
best  he  can.  That's  what  we  are  doing.  It's 
a  mighty  effort,  cher  fr&re,  but  there  is  no  way 
out.  We  Turks  are  not  ready  yet  to  bow  to  the 
audience.  We  would  still  remain  in  the  play 
awhile.  And  we  are  willing  to  play  accordingly. 
We  have  all  confidence  in  the  Germans.  Some 
people  don't  like  them.  They  are  terrible  com- 
petitors, I  have  been  told.  So  far  we  have  not 
done  so  poorly  with  them.  We  have  abolished 
the  capitulations.  That  is  something  for  a 
start.  WTien  this  war  is  over  we  hope  to  be  more 
the  masters  of  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Dardanelles 
than  we  have  been  since  the  days  of  Grand 
Vizier  Koprulii.  It  '11  be  a  hard  row  to  hoe  be- 
fore the  end  is  reached.  But  we  will  come  out 
on  top.  After  that  we  and  the  Germans  will  try 
to  make  something  of  our  natural  resources. 
We  will  build  railroads  and  factories,  irrigate 
wherever  possible,  and  establish  the  finest  agri- 
cultural schools  to  be  found  anywhere.  But 
we  will  see  to  it  that  Turkey  is  developed  for  the 


THE    IRON    RATION 

benefit  of  the  Ottoman.  Tobacco  monopolies 
and  foreign  public-debt  administrations  we  hope 
to  banish." 

Such  is  the  aim  of  the  Turk.  To  speak  of  mass 
psychology  in  the  Ottoman  Empire  is  not  pos- 
sible, for  the  reason  that  it  has  more  races  than 
Austria-Hungary  and  no  central  personage  to 
hold  them  together.  The  old  Sultan  is  a  myth 
to  fully  two- thirds  of  the  Ottoman  population. 
To  the  Greeks  and  Armenians  he  is  no  more  than 
any  other  high  official  of  the  government. 


XIX 

SEX  MORALITY  AND   WAR 

F  HAVE  seen  much  comment  on  the  increase  of 
•••  sexual  laxness  in  the  Central  European  states, 
owing  to  the  influence  of  the  war.  Those  who 
have  written  and  spoken  on  the  subject  have,  as 
a  rule,  proclaimed  themselves  handicapped  by 
either  prejudice  or  ignorance — two  things  which 
are  really  one. 

Much  breath  and  ink  has  been  wasted  on  cer- 
tain steps  taken  by  the  several  German  and 
Austro-Hungarian  governments  for  the  legitimi- 
zation  of  natural  offspring  by  giving  the  mother 
the  right  to  set  the  prefix  Frau — Mrs. — before 
her  maiden  name.  I  have  also  run  across  the 
perfectly  silly  statement  that  the  Central  Eu- 
ropean governments,  in  allowing  such  women 
the  war  subsistence  and  pension  of  the  legitimate 
widow  and  children,  were  purposely  fostering 
that  sort  of  illicit  relations  between  men  and 
women  for  the  purpose  of  repeopling  their  states. 
On  that  point  not  much  breath  need  be  wasted, 
for  the  very  good  reason  that  each  child  is  indeed 
welcome  just  now  in  Central  Europe,  and  that 
the  government's  least  duty  is  to  take  care  of 

22  325 


THE    IRON    RATION 

the  woman  and  child  who  might  ultimately  have 
been  the  wife  and  legitimate  offspring  of  the 
man  who  lost  his  life  in  the  trenches.  Sex  prob- 
lems are  the  inevitable  result  of  all  wars  in  which 
many  men  lose  life  and  health.  I  may  also  say 
that  in  other  belligerent  countries  this  problem 
has  as  yet  not  been  dealt  with  half  so  intelli- 
gently and  thoroughly. 

Monogamy  and  polygamy  are  usually  eco- 
nomic results  rather  than  purely  social  institu- 
tions. A  stay  of  nine  months  in  Turkey  showed 
me  that  polygamy  in  that  country  is  disappearing 
fast,  because  the  Turk  is  no  longer  able  to  sup- 
port more  than  one  wife.  In  the  entire  Bos- 
phorus  district,  in  which  Constantinople  lies  and 
of  which  it  is  the  center,  there  were  in  1915  but 
seventeen  Moslem  households  in  which  could  be 
found  the  limit  of  four  legitimate  wives.  Of  the 
entire  population  of  the  district  only  seven  per 
thousand  Turks  had  more  than  one  wife,  so  that, 
on  the  whole,  legalized  polygamy  made  a  better 
showing  in  sex  morality  than  what  we  of  the 
Occident  can  boast  of,  seeing  that  prostitution 
is  unknown  among  the  Turks. 

That  the  war  increased  illicit  sexual  intercourse 
in  Central  Europe  is  true,  nor  was  that  increase 
a  small  one.  It  did  not  take  on  the  proportions, 
however,  which  have  been  given  to  it,  or  which 
under  the  circumstances  might  have  been  looked 
for. 

In  the  first  place,  many  of  the  slender  social 
threads  that  restrain  sex  impulse  in  the  modern 
state  snapped  under  the  strain  of  the  war.  Their 

326 


SEX  MORALITY   AND   WAR 

place  was  taken  by  something  that  was  closely 
related  to  the  Spartan  system  of  marriage.  Free 
selection  was  practised  by  women  whose  hus- 
bands were  at  the  front.  The  men  did  the  same 
thing.  The  water  on  the  divorce-mill  took  on  a 
mighty  spurt — evidence  that  this  looseness  did 
not  always  find  the  consent  of  the  other  party, 
though  often  his  or  her  conduct  may  not  have 
been  any  better. 

This  is  a  case  in  which  generalization  is  not 
permissible.  The  good  stood  beside  the  bad  and 
indifferent,  and  reference  to  the  subject  might 
be  dispensed  with  entirely  were  it  not  that 
public  subsistence  is  closely  related  to  sex  mo- 
rality. 

War  takes  from  his  home  and  family  the  man. 
Though  the  governments  made  some  provision 
for  those  left  behind,  the  allowance  given  them 
was  never  large  enough  to  keep  them  as  well  as 
they  had  been  kept  by  the  labor  of  the  head  of 
the  family.  So  long  as  the  cost  of  living  did  not 
greatly  increase,  the  efforts  of  the  wife  and  older 
children  met  the  situation,  but  all  endeavor  of 
that  sort  became  futile  when  the  price  of  food 
and  other  necessities  increased  twofold  and  even 
more.  When  that  moment  came  the  tempter 
had  an  easy  time  of  it.  From  the  family  had 
also  been  taken  much  of  the  restraint  which 
makes  for  social  orderliness.  The  man  was  away 
from  home;  the  young  wife  had  seen  better  times. 
Other  men  came  into  her  path,  and  nature  is 
not  in  all  cases  as  loyal  to  the  marriage  vows 
as  we  would  believe.  In  many  cases  the  mother, 

327 


THE   IRON   RATION 

now  unassisted  by  the  authority  of  the  father, 
was  unable  to  keep  her  daughters  and  sons  in 
check. 

War  has  a  most  detrimental  effect  upon  the 
mind  of  the  juvenile.  The  romance  of  soldier- 
ing unleashes  in  the  adolescent  male  every 
quality  which  social  regulation  has  curbed  in 
the  past,  while  the  young  woman  usually  dis- 
cards the  common  sense  of  her  advisers  for  the 
sickly  sentimentalism  which  brass  buttons  on 
clothing  cut  on  military  lines  is  apt  to  rouse  in 
the  female  mind.  Soon  the  social  fabric  is  rent  in 
many  places  and  governmental  efforts  at  mend- 
ing are  hardly  ever  successful. 

We  have  of  this  an  indication  in  the  remarkable 
increase  in  juvenile  delinquency  which  marked 
the  course  of  the  European  War.  In  thousands 
of  cases  the  boys  of  good  families  became  thieves 
and  burglars.  Even  highway  robbery  was  not 
beyond  them,  and,  odd  as  it  may  seem,  nearly 
every  murder  committed  in  the  Central  states 
in  the  last  three  years  had  a  lone  woman  of 
wealth  for  a  victim  and  some  young  degenerate, 
male  or  female,  as  perpetrator.  In  the  cases  that 
came  to  my  notice  the  father  or  husband  was 
at  the  front. 

But  apart  from  these  more  or  less  spontaneous 
failings  of  young  men  and  women,  there  was  the 
category  of  offenses  in  which  external  influence 
was  the  causa  movens.  Desperate  need  caused 
many  to  steal  and  embezzle;  it  caused  many 
women  to  divest  themselves  of  that  self-respect 
which  is  decency  and  the  glory  of  thefille  honnete. 

328 


SEX  MORALITY  AND   WAR 

Nothing  can  be  so  cynical  as  the  laws  of  social 
administration.  That  was  shown  on  every  hand 
by  the  war,  but  especially  did  it  become  ap- 
parent in  the  gratification  of  the  sexual  appetite 
by  that  class  which  has  nothing  but  money. 
While  the  father  and  husband  was  at  the  front, 
fighting  for  the  state,  and  heaping  the  wealth 
of  the  community  into  the  coffers  of  a  rapacious 
industrial  and  commercial  class,  his  daughter 
and  wife  were  often  corrupted  by  that  very 
wealth.  Nor  was  it  always  bitter  want  that 
promoted  the  lust  of  the  wealthy  profligate. 
The  war  had  shaken  the  social  structure  to  its 
very  foundations.  So  great  was  the  pressure 
of  anxiety  that  the  human  mind  began  to  crave 
for  relief  in  abandonment,  and  once  this  had 
been  tasted  the  subject  would  often  become  a 
confirmed  "good-time"  fiend. 

There  was  a  certain  war  purveyor  of  whom  it 
was  said  that  he  seduced  a  virgin  once  a  week. 
The  class  he  drew  upon  was  the  lowest.  Most  of 
his  victims  were  factory -girls,  and,  such  being  the 
case,  nobody  thought  much  of  it  at  a  time  when 
calamity  had  roused  in  all  the  worst  qualities 
that  may  be  wakened  in  the  struggle  for  self- 
preservation.  It  was  a  case  of  the  devil  take  the 
hindmost,  and  his  Satanic  Majesty  did  not  over- 
look his  chance. 

For  a  few  days  these  girls  would  be  the  para- 
mours of  their  masters.  When,  finally,  they  saw 
themselves  cast  off  in  favor  of  a  prettier  face,  they 
would  for  a  while  frequent  caf 6s  where  they  would 
meet  the  officers  on  leave  and  small  fry  of  civil- 

329 


THE    IRON    RATION 

ians,  and  not  long  after  that  they  did  business  on 
the  street  with  a  government  license  and  certifi- 
cate showing  that  they  were  being  inspected  by 
the  authorities  in  the  interest  of  public  health. 

That  was  the  usual  career  of  one  of  these  war 
victims.  But  the  thing  did  not  end  there.  The 
thousands  who  had  grown  rich  on  war  contracts 
and  food  speculation  began  to  tire  of  the  very 
uninteresting  sport  of  ruining  factory-girls  and 
shop- women.  They  reached  out  into  those  social 
classes  in  which  refinement  made  a  raid  so  much 
more  delectable.  To  physical  debauch  had  to  be 
added  moral  and  mental  orgy.  Taste  had  been 
stimulated  to  a  degree  where  it  demanded  that 
social  destruction  should  accompany  lustful  ex- 
travagance. And  that  only  the  woman  of  the 
better  class  could  give.  The  gourmand  became 
an  epicure.  Times  favored  him. 

What  proportions  this  state  of  affairs  reached 
may  be  illustrated  by  the  "personal"  advertise- 
ments carried  at  one  time  by  one  of  Vienna's 
foremost  newspapers,  the  Tagblatt.  Throughout 
the  week  that  paper  would  carry  from  forty  to 
ninety  inches,  single  column,  of  personal  ads., 
each  of  them  requesting  a  woman,  seen  here  or 
there,  to  enter  into  correspondence  with  the  ad- 
vertiser for  "strictly  honorable"  purposes.  On 
Sundays  the  same  paper  would  carry  as  much 
as  two  whole  pages  of  that  sort  of  advertising. 
Soon  the  time  came  when  often  as  much  as  a 
quarter  of  these  ads.  would  be  inserted  by  women 
who  disguised  a  heartrending  appeal  to  some 
wretch  in  whatever  manner  they  could. 

330 


SEX  MORALITY  AND   WAR 

Emperor  Charles  deserves  the  highest  credit 
for  finally  putting  his  foot  down  on  that  practice. 
The  "personals"  in  the  Tagblatt  began  to  irritate 
him,  and  one  day  he  let  it  become  known  to  the 
management  of  the  publication  that  further  in- 
sertion of  that  sort  of  matter  would  lead  to  the 
heavy  hand  of  the  censors  being  felt.  That 
helped.  After  that  the  Tagblatt  ran  only  matri- 
monial advertising.  Yet  even  that  was  not 
wholly  innocuous.  The  daughter  of  a  colonel 
was  corrupted  by  means  of  it.  I  am  glad  to  say 
that  the  old  soldier  took  the  law  in  his  own  hand. 
He  looked  up  the  man  who  had  seduced  the  young 
woman  and  shot  him  dead  in  his  tracks.  The 
government  had  good  sense  enough  to  dispose  of 
the  case  by  having  the  colonel  make  a  report. 

To  my  own  attention  came,  in  Budapest,  the 
case  of  a  fourteen-year-old  girl  who  had  been  sold 
by  her  own  mother  to  a  rich  manufacturer.  The 
woman  had  advertised  in  a  Budapest  newspaper 
that  did  business  along  the  lines  of  the  Vienna 
Tagblatt.  The  girl  knew  nothing  of  it,  of  course. 
There  was  a  sequel  in  court,  and  during  the 
testimony  the  woman  said  that  she  had  sold  her 
daughter  to  the  manufacturer  in  order  to  get  the 
money  she  needed  to  keep  herself  and  her  other 
children.  Josephus  mentions  in  his  Wars  of  the 
Jews  how  a  woman  of  Jerusalem  killed,  then 
cooked  and  ate,  her  own  child,  because  the  rob- 
bers had  taken  everything  from  her,  and,  rather 
than  see  the  child  starve,  she  killed  it.  He  also 
mentions  that  the  robbers  left  the  house  horror- 
struck.  The  war  purveyor  and  food  shark 

331 


THE    IRON    RATION 

did  not  always  have  that  much  feeling  left  in 
them. 

Poor  little  Margit!  When  my  attention  was 
drawn  to  her  she  was  a  waitress  in  a  cafe  in 
Budapest,  and  her  patrons  used  to  give  her  an 
extra  filler  or  two  in  order  that  she  might  not 
have  to  do  on  her  own  account  what  she  had  been 
obliged  to  suffer  at  the  behest  of  her  raven  mother. 
As  I  heard  the  story,  the  manufacturer  got  off 
with  a  fine,  and  the  mother  of  Margit  was  just 
then  sorting  rags  in  a  cellar,  with  tuberculosis 
wasting  her  lungs. 

Society  at  war  is  a  most  peculiar  animal — it  is 
anarchy  without  the  safeguards  of  that  anarchy 
which  fires  the  mind  of  the  idealist;  for  that 
system  and  its  free  love  would  make  the  buying 
of  woman  impossible. 

But  there  were  sorts  of  sexual  looseness  that 
were  not  quite  so  sordid,  which  at  least  had  the 
excuse  of  having  natural  causes  as  their  back- 
ground. Rendered  irresponsible  by  sexual  desire 
and  the  monotony  of  a  poverty-stricken  existence, 
many  of  the  younger  women  whose  husbands 
were  in  the  army  started  liaisons,  Verhattnisse, 
as  they  are  called  in  German,  with  such  men  as 
were  available.  It  speaks  well  for  the  openness 
of  mind  of  some  husbands  that  they  did  not  resent 
this.  I  happen  to  know  of  a  case  in  which  a  man 
at  the  front  charged  a  friend  to  visit  his  wife. 
After  I  learned  of  this  I  came  to  understand  that 
progress,  called  civilization,  is  indeed  a  very  odd 
thing.  The  Spartans  when  at  war  used  to  do  the 

same  thing,  and  it  was  the  practice  of  commanders 

332 


SEX   MORALITY   AND   WAR 

to  send  home  young  men  of  physical  perfection 
in  order  that  the  women  should  beget  well- 
developed  children.  The  offspring  was  later 
known  as  parthenice — of  the  virgin  born.  But  the 
laws  of  the  Spartans  favored  an  intelligent  appli- 
cation of  this  principle,  while  in  Central  Europe 
no  regulation  of  that  sort  could  be  attempted. 

An  effort  was  made  by  the  several  governments 
to  check  this  tendency  toward  social  dissolution. 
For  the  first  time  in  many  years  the  police  raided 
hotels.  Now  and  then  offenders  were  heavily 
fined.  But  authorities  which  in  the  interest  of 
public  health  had  licensed  certain  women  were 
prone  to  be  open-minded  to  practices  due  to  the 
war.  It  was  realized  that  the  times  were  such 
that  latitude  had  to  be  given;  in  the  end  it  was 
felt  that  just  now  it  did  not  matter  how  children 
were  born.  The  state  began  to  assume  what  had 
formerly  been  the  duty  of  the  father  and  pro- 
ceeded with  more  vigor  than  ever  against  the 
malpractice  of  physicians.  One  of  them,  con- 
victed on  the  charge  of  abortion,  was  given  a  two- 
year  sentence  of  penal  servitude. 

It  cannot  be  said,  however,  that  the  woman 
who  had  made  up  her  mind  to  remain  a  loyal 
wife  or  innocent  was  not  given  ample  protection. 
The  state  was  interested  in  the  production  of 
children,  but  had  little  patience  with  illicit  sexual 
intercourse  that  did  not  result  in  this.  There  is 
the  theory  that  the  child  whose  father  does  not 
take  some  loving  interest  in  the  mother  is  not 
of  as  much  value  as  that  which  has  been  born 
in  the  "wedlock"  of  love.  With  that  in  view, 

333 


THE    IRON    RATION 

the  government  took  what  precaution  there  was 
possible.  The  profligate  and  roue  were  given 
a  great  deal  of  attention,  though  little  good  came 
of  this,  since  the  times  favored  them  entirely  too 
much.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  eyes  of  the 
law  saw  where  they  could  see. 

Food-lines  were  as  a  rule  attended  by  police- 
men, whose  duty  it  was  to  maintain  order  and 
keep  off  the  human  hyenas  who  were  in  the  habit 
of  loitering  about  these  lines  for  the  purpose  of 
picking  out  women.  That  was  well  enough. 
But  the  policeman  could  not  see  these  women 
home,  nor  prevent  the  man  from  surveying  the 
crowd,  making  his  selection,  and  later  forcing  his 
attentions  upon  the  woman. 

With  the  need  for  food  and  clothing  always 
pressing,  the  ground  was  generally  well  prepared, 
and  the  public  was  inclined  to  be  lenient  in  such 
matters  anyway — as  "war"  publics  have  a 
knack  of  doing. 

I  had  scraped  up  acquaintances  with  a  number 
of  policemen  in  the  district  in  which  I  lived. 
Most  of  them  I  had  met  in  connection  with  my 
investigation  of  food-line  matters.  They  were 
all  very  fine  fellows,  and  red  blood  rather  than 
red  tape  was  in  their  veins.  The  suffering  of  the 
women  in  the  food-lines  had  made  these  men 
more  human  than  is  usual  in  their  business. 

"Another  one  of  them  has  gone  to  the  bad," 
said  one  of  the  policemen  to  me  one  day,  as  he 
pointed  out  to  me  discreetly  a  rather  pretty 
young  woman  who  had  come  for  her  ration  of 
potatoes.  "A  fellow,  who  seems  rather  well-to- 

334 


SEX  MORALITY  AND   WAR 

do,  has  been  trailing  her  to  and  from  this  store  for 
almost  two  weeks.  I  had  my  eye  on  him,  and 
would  have  nabbed  hini  quick  enough  had  he 
ever  spoken  to  the  woman  while  in  the  line. 
Well,  three  days  ago  I  saw  the  two  of  them  to- 
gether in  the  Schwarzenberg  Cafe.  The  damage 
is  done  now,  I  suppose.  You  will  notice  that 
she  has  on  a  new  pair  of  shoes.  She  must  have 
paid  for  them  at  least  one  hundred  and  ten 
crowns." 

I  suggested  that  the  shoes  were  not  necessarily 
proof  that  the  woman  had  done  wrong. 

"Under  the  circumstances  they  are,"  said  the 
policeman.  "Yesterday  I  managed  to  talk  to 
the  woman.  She  is  the  wife  of  a  reservist  who 
is  now  on  the  Italian  front.  The  government 
gives  her  a  subsistence  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
crowns  a  month.  She  has  no  other  means. 
With  two  little  children  to  take  care  of,  that  al- 
lowance wouldn't  pay  for  shoes  of  that  sort. 
It's  too  bad.  She  is  the  second  one  in  this  food- 
line  this  month  who  has  done  that." 

Shortly  afterward  I  learned  of  the  case  of  a 
woman  who  had  sold  herself  in  order  to  provide 
food  and  fuel  for  her  two  children.  She  was  the 
widow  of  a  reserve  officer  who  had  fallen  in 
Galicia.  Her  own  pension  amounted  to  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  crowns  a  month,  and  for  the  support 
of  the  children  she  was  allowed  another  one 
hundred  crowns,  I  believe.  The  sum  was  entirely 
too  small  to  keep  the  three,  being  the  equivalent 
of,  roughly,  twenty-seven  dollars,  depreciation 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  currency  considered. 

335 


THE    IRON    RATION 

At  that  time  life  in  Vienna  was  as  costly  as  it  is 
normally  in  the  United  States.  While  her  hus- 
band had  been  alive  the  woman  had  led  a  very 
comfortable  life.  She  had  kept  a  servant  and 
lived  in  a  good  apartment  in  the  Third  Municipal 
District.  The  thing  that  struck  me  in  her  case 
was  that  she  had  not  taken  the  step  before.  It  is 
extremely  difficult  to  be  virtuous  on  twenty- 
seven  dollars  a  month  when  one  has  not  known 
need  before. 

The  many  cases  of  that  sort  which  I  could  cite 
would  merely  repeat  themselves.  I  will  make 
mention,  however,  of  one  which  is  due  to  what 
may  be  termed  the  psychology  of  the  mass  in 
war.  In  this  instance  it  was  not  want  that  was 
responsible.  Aggregates  involved  in  war  seem 
to  sense  instinctively  that  the  violence  of  arms 
may  draw  in  its  wake  social  dissolution.  The 
pathology  of  society  is  affected  by  that  in  much 
the  same  manner  as  is  evident  in  other  organisms 
when  a  change  is  imminent  or  pending.  A 
period  of  relaxation  sets  in,  which  in  the  case  of 
the  human  aggregate  manifests  itself  in  sexual 
looseness. 

In  various  parts  of  Serbia  I  had  had  occasion  to 
notice  that  the  women  gave  themselves  readily 
to  the  invading  soldiers.  In  the  Austrian  capital 
I  ran  into  the  same  thing,  though  there  was  at 
that  time  no  danger  of  invasion. 

Time  lying  heavy  on  my  hands  when  I  was 
not  at  a  front,  or  occupied  with  some  political 
situation  in  one  of  the  Central  European  seats  of 
government,  I  decided  to  pass  some  of  it  by  tak- 

336 


SEX   MORALITY   AND    WAR 

ing  piano  lessons.  I  made  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments with  a  master  of  the  instrument  near 
the  Karntner  Ring.  On  the  three  half-hours  a 
week  which  I  took  from  the  maestro  I  was  pre- 
ceded on  two  by  a  pretty  young  woman  greatly 
gifted  musically.  Her  parents  were  well  off,  so 
that  it  was  not  a  question  of  getting  a  "good 
time"  in  the  only  manner  possible. 

After  a  while  the  young  woman  failed  to  appear 
for  her  lessons.  The  Tonmeister  wanted  to  know 
the  reason  for  this.  Confused  and  conflicting 
answers  being  all  he  received,  he  made  up  his 
mind  that  something  was  wrong.  The  poor  old 
man  had  dealt  with  nothing  but  music  all  his 
life,  and  was  delightfully  ignorant  of  the  ways 
of  the  world.  He  asked  my  advice.  Should  he 
inform  the  parents  of  the  student? 

After  I  had  ascertained  that  his  responsibility 
as  teacher  was  not  weighted  by  friendship  or  even 
acquaintance  with  the  girl's  family,  I  suggested 
that  he  confine  himself  to  his  proper  province  by 
notifying  the  student  that  failure  in  the  future  to 
put  in  appearance  at  her  hour  would  result  in  a 
report  of  that  and  past  delinquencies  to  the 
parents. 

A  very  emotional  interview  between  teacher 
and  student  resulted.  By  this  time  the  girl 
had  realized  the  folly  of  her  conduct  and  seemed 
truly  repentant.  Being  much  attached  to  the 
old  teacher,  she  made  a  clean  breast  of  it.  Her 
excuse  was  most  interesting. 

"You  see,  dear  master,"  she  said,  "these  are 
war  times.  I  thought  that  it  wouldn't  matter 

337 


THE    IRON   RATION 

much.  If  the  Russians  came  to  Vienna  it  might 
happen  anyway." 

There  is  used  in  the  German  army  a  word  that 
comprises  every  rule  of  sex  conduct  to  which  the 
soldier  is  subject,  or  ought  to  be — Manneszucht 
— the  moral  discipline  of  the  man.  Infraction  of 
this  rule  is  severely  punished  in  all  cases,  though 
the  ordinary  soldier  may  under  it  cohabit  with  a 
woman  by  her  consent.  To  the  officer  this  priv- 
ilege is  not  given,  however,  it  being  assumed  that 
as  the  instrument  of  military  discipline  he  must 
be  proof  against  many  demands  of  nature  and 
be  in  full  control  of  himself  at  all  times.  The 
German  officer  who  would  violate  a  woman  in  an 
occupied  territory  fares  badly,  and  the  code  for- 
bids that  he  enter  into  liaison  with  a  woman  of 
the  enemy.  Nor  may  he  visit  the  army  brothels 
which  now  and  then  are  established  by  the 
authorities. 

I  do  not  mean  to  infer  that  the  German  army 
officer  always  and  invariably  adheres  to  these 
rules.  But  he  does  this  generally.  The  ab- 
stinence thus  practised  reflects  itself  in  that 
unqualified  devotion  to  duty  for  which  the 
German  officer  is  deservedly  famous.  It  tends 
to  make  of  him,  for  military  purposes,  a  sort  of 
superman.  .He  comes  to  regard  the  curb  he 
sets  upon  himself  as  entitling  him  to  despise  the 
weaklings  who  satisfy  their  desires.  In  the 
course  of  time  he  extended  the  fine  contempt 
that  comes  from  this  to  his  allied  brothers-in- 
arms in  Austria  and  Hungary,  who  were  deplor- 
ably lax  in  that  respect,  despite  the  regulations. 


SEX   MORALITY   AND    WAR 

Though  I  do  not  especially  deal  with  the  latter 
subject,  I  must  mention  it  here  as  a  preamble  to 
a  certain  experience  I  had  one  night  in  Trieste. 
The  experience,  on  the  other  hand,  showed  to 
what  extent  war  may  influence  the  conduct  of 
men  whose  station  and  opportunities  might 
cause  one  to  believe  that  they  were  above  sur- 
rendering to  sexual  laxness. 

In  the  "Hall"  of  the  Hotel  Excelsior  of  Trieste 
were  sitting  at  cafe  tables  some  sixty  Austro- 
Hungarian  officers  from  the  Isonzo  front  who 
on  that  day  had  been  furloughed  from  the 
trenches  for  a  certain  purpose.  At  the  tables 
sat  also  a  fourscore  of  women  who  for  the  time 
being  were  the  sweethearts  of  the  officers.  High 
revelry  was  on.  The  windows  of  the  room,  with 
all  others  along  the  Trieste  water-front,  had 
been  well  blinded,  so  that  no  beam  of  light 
fell  into  the  inky  blackness  without  through 
which  a  fierce  borea — northern  wind — was  just 
then  driving  a  veritable  deluge. 

The  room  was  well  heated  and  lighted.  I 
had  on  that  very  day  walked  off  a  sector  on  the 
Carso  plateau,  and  found  a  most  pleasant 
contrast  between  the  cold  and  muddy  trenches 
and  the  "Hall."  It  was  exceedingly  snug  in  the 
place.  And  there  was  the  inevitable  gipsy  music. 

Across  the  bay,  from  Montfalcone,  came  the 
sound  of  an  Italian  night  drumfire,  and  in  the 
room  popped  the  bottle  of  Paluguay  champagne 
— the  French  products  being  just  then  hard  to 
get. 

There  were  three  other  war  correspondents 

339 


THE    IRON    RATION 

in  the  party.  An  Austrian  general-staff  man  was 
in  charge.  The  officer  was  of  the  strait-laced 
sort  and  did  not  sanction  the  conduct  of  his  col- 
leagues. But  then  he  was  at  headquarters  at 
Adelsberg  and  could  go  to  Vienna  almost  as 
often  as  he  liked.  The  others  were  poor  devils 
who  had  been  sitting  in  the  Carso  trenches  for 
months  and  had  now  come  to  Trieste  to  have  a 
good  time,  even  if  that  meant  that  next  morning 
the  pay  of  several  months  would  be  in  the 
pocket  of  the  hotel  manager  and  in  the  hands  of 
some  good-looking  Italo-Croat  woman. 

It  was  not  long  before  we  had  at  our  table 
some  of  the  "ladies."  One  of  the  war  corre- 
spondents had  taken  it  upon  himself  to  provide 
us  with  company.  From  that  company  I  learned 
what  the  frame  of  mind  of  the  officers  was. 
After  all,  that  attitude  was  simple  enough. 
Each  day  might  be  the  last,  and  why  not  enjoy 
life  to-day  when  to-morrow  there  might  be  a 
burial  without  coffin,  without  anything  except 
the  regrets  of  comrades?  What  was  etiquette 
under  such  circumstances?  The  champagne 
helped  them  to  forget,  and  the  women,  though 
their  conversation  might  be  discouragingly  banal, 
were,  after  all,  members  of  the  other  sex.  One  of 
the  women  was  able  to  take  a  very  intelligent 
survey  of  the  situation.  She  was  capable  of  sens- 
ing real  sympathy  for  these  men.  I  learned  that 
she  had  lost  her  husband  in  the  war.  It  was  the 
same  old  story.  She  had  found  the  small  pen- 
sion for  herself  and  the  allowance  for  her  boy  en- 
tirely insufficient,  was  not  minded  to  do  poorly 

340 


SEX   MORALITY   AND    WAR 

paid  hard  work,  and  had  concluded  that  it  was 
easy  for  the  well-to-do  to  be  decent.  The  poor 
had  to  do  the  best  they  could  in  these  days  of 
high  prices. 

Out  on  the  Carso  the  bombardment  pro- 
gressed, satisfactorily,  I  presume,  as  the  next 
official  communique  of  the  Italian  government 
would  say.  The  champagne  bottles  continued  to 
pop.  Men  and  women  drank  to  one  another's 
good  health,  the  former  oblivious,  for  the  time 
being,  that  this  might  be  the  last  good  time  they 
would  ever  enjoy. 

It  strikes  me  that  not  much  fault  can  be  found 
with  this,  so  long  as  we  are  human  enough  to 
allow  those  whom  we  are  about  to  execute  for 
the  commission  of  some  crime  to  choose  their 
last  breakfast — or  is  it  supper?  To  be  detailed 
into  the  advanced  trenches  was  generally  no 
better  than  to  be  sentenced  to  death. 

Only  those  who  have  been  constantly  threat- 
ened by  the  dangers  of  war  can  realize  what 
state  of  mind  these  men  were  in.  Nothing  mat- 
tered any  more,  and,  nothing  being  really  im- 
portant, the  pleasures  of  the  flesh  were  every- 
thing. It  was  so  with  the  little  music  student  I 
have  mentioned.  I  could  not  reach  a  harsh 
judgment  in  either  case,  despite  the  picture  of 
Prussian  Manneszucht  before  my  eyes.  At  the 
same  time,  I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
sleek  communities  living  in  peace  and  plenty 
cannot  be  expected  to  understand  the  moral 
disintegration  which  the  dangers  of  war  had 
wrought  in  this  instance. 

23  341 


THE    IRON    RATION 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  similar  conditions 
in  Berlin  and  other  cities  of  the  Central  states. 
Being  a  matter-of-fact  individual,  I  cannot  say 
that  they  shocked  me.  The  relations  of  cause 
and  effect  cannot  be  explained  away,  much  as 
we  may  wish  to  do  it.  With  some  fourteen 
million  men  taken  away  from  their  families, 
whose  sole  support  they  were  in  the  vast  majority 
of  cases,  nothing  else  was  to  be  expected.  It 
speaks  well  for  mankind  in  general  that  the  re- 
sulting conditions  were  not  worse.  The  respon- 
sibility involved  falls  rather  upon  those  who 
brought  on  the  war  than  upon  the  men  and 
women  who  transgressed. 

And  that  responsibility  was  not  shirked  in  the 
Central  states.  Before  the  war  broke  out  there 
had  already  been  held  very  liberal  views  on 
illegitimacy.  The  children  of  Hagar  were  no 
longer  ostracized  by  the  public,  as,  for  instance, 
they  are  in  the  United  States  and  other  countries 
where  social  "justice"  is  still  visited  upon  those 
whose  misfortune  it  is  to  have  been  born  out  of 
wedlock.  In  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  it 
was  held  that  a  man  is  a  man  for  all  that. 

Small  wonder,  then,  that  during  the  winter  of 
1916,  when  the  crop  of  "war"  babies  was  un- 
usually large — formed,  in  fact,  more  than  10  per 
cent,  of  the  increase  in  population — the  several 
Central  European  governments  should  decide  to 
give  such  children  and  their  mothers  the  allow- 
ances provided  for  the  wives  and  widows  of 
soldiers  and  their  children.  The  German  state 
governments,  that  of  Prussia  excepted,  also 

342 


SEX   MORALITY   AND    WAR 

abolished  the  "illegitimate"  birth  certificate  and 
gave  the  unwed  soldier  wife  or  widow  the  right  to 
use  the  designation  Frau — Mistress — instead  of, 
as  heretofore,  Frdulein,  or  Miss. 

This  measure  was  a  fine  example  of  humane- 
ness, seeing  that  otherwise  many  thousands  of 
mothers  of  "war"  babies  would  have  been 
obliged  to  go  through  life  with  the  stigma  of 
illegitimacy  branding  both  woman  and  child. 
It  is  somewhat  typical  of  Prussia  that  its  gov- 
ernment should  be  willing  to  support  illegitimate 
"war"  babies  and  their  mothers  and  yet  deny 
them  the  comforts  of  social  recognition,  when 
their  number  was  no  less  than  two  hundred 
thousand. 

There  came  up,  in  connection  with  this  legis- 
lation, the  question  of  whether  the  offspring 
of  unmarried  women  whose  paramours  were 
not  in  the  military  service  should  receive  the 
same  liberal  treatment.  A  great  deal  of  opposi- 
tion was  voiced  by  the  clergy  and  other  con- 
servative elements.  It  was  argued  that  exten- 
sion of  this  benefit  to  all  would  encourage  a 
general  recourse  to  free  love. 

But  the  legislators  and  governments  were  less 
short-sighted.  The  legitimizing  acts  were  so 
framed  that  they  included  all  children,  no  matter 
who  their  fathers  were.  It  was  held  that  it  would 
be  absurd  to  expect  the  millions  of  women  whom 
the  war  had  robbed  of  their  husbands,  or  the 
chance  of  getting  one,  to  lead  a  life  of  celibacy. 
Nature  would  assert  itself,  and  if  the  subject  was 
not  now  dealt  with  in  a  rational  manner,  it 

343 


THE    IRON   RATION 

would  have  to  be  disposed  of  later  when  condi- 
tions might  be  less  favorable. 

There  were  certain  examples  to  be  recalled. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  the 
South  German  states,  being  the  hardest  hit  in 
losses  of  male  population,  adopted  laws  according 
to  which  any  man  with  the  necessary  means  could 
legitimately  admit  into  his  house  as  many  women 
as  he  cared  to  support.  Though  well-inten- 
tioned, the  law  shared  every  defect  which  emer- 
gency legislation  is  apt  to  be  afflicted  with. 
The  men  able  to  support  more  than  one  wife  were 
generally  advanced  in  years,  so  that  the  very 
condition  which  the  state  had  hoped  to  meet 
gave  rise  to  chaos.  It  had  not  been  the  intention 
to  afford  the  pleasures  of  the  seraglio  to  the 
wealthy,  but  to  take  the  best  possible  account  of  a 
social  emergency. 

This  was  borne  in  mind  when  the  Central  states 
governments  dealt  with  a  similar  condition  in 
1916,  the  factors  of  which  were  these:  There 
had  been  killed  in  action,  crippled  for  life,  and 
incapacitated  by  disease  nearly  five  million  men 
who  had  gone  to  the  fronts  in  the  very  prime  of 
life.  That  meant  a  serious  loss  to  a  community — 
considering  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  a 
single  unit  in  this  respect — which  then  had  ap- 
proximately twenty  million  women  in  the  state 
of  puberty.  Reduced  to  statistics,  the  situation 
was  that  there  were  only  four  men  of  marriage- 
able age  for  every  five  women.  It  was  estimated 
at  the  time  that  before  the  war  was  over  these 
odds  would  go  to  three  to  five.  Recent  casualty 

344 


SEX  MORALITY  AND   WAR 

statistics  show  that  this  stage  has  been  nearly 
reached, 

I  must  make  reference  here  to  the  fact  that 
the  normal  and  healthy  woman  finds  life  with  the 
physically  impaired  man  a  torture.  A  good  many 
cases  of  that  sort  have  come  to  my  attention. 
One  of  them  is  so  typical  of  all  others  that  I  will 
give  its  details. 

At  a  certain  Berlin  drawing-room  I  made  the 
acquaintance  of  a  charming  young  woman  of 
the  better  class.  I  may  say  that  she  is  a  writer 
of  considerable  merit. 

A  few  months  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
she  had  married  a  professional  man  of  quality. 
When  the  mobilization  came  he  was  drafted  as 
an  officer  of  the  reserve. 

For  months  at  a  time  the  two  did  not  see  each 
other,  and  when  finally  the  man  returned  home 
for  good  one  leg  had  been  amputated  at  the 
knee  and  the  other  a  little  above  the  ankle.  The 
woman  did  what  most  women  would  do  under 
the  circumstances.  She  received  the  man  with 
open  arms  and  nursed  him  back  to  complete 
recovery. 

Soon  it  was  evident  that  all  was  not  well  with 
the  relations  of  the  two.  The  woman  tried  to 
forget  that  her  husband  was  a  cripple  for  life. 
But  the  harder  she  tried  the  more  grew  a  feeling 
of  repulsion  for  the  man.  Finally,  she  decided  to 
live  alone. 

It  would  be  very  simple  to  label  the  woman  a 
heartless  creature.  But  it  would  be  quite  as  un- 
just. The  foes  of  even  that  small  portion  of 

345 


THE    IRON   RATION 

realism  which  the  most  logical  of  us  are  able  to 
identify  may  be  inclined  to  take  the  stand  that 
sex  has  little  to  do  with  what  is  called  love. 
And  yet  in  the  healthy  race  it  forms  the  social 
force  majeure.  It  is  not  for  me  to  decide  whether 
the  woman  in  question  did  well  in  leaving  the 
man.  After  all,  that  is  her  own  affair — so  much 
more  her  own  affair  since  the  man,  as  yet  not 
reconciled  to  his  great  misfortune,  began  to 
plague  her  with  most  vicious  outbreaks  of 
jealousy,  when  as  yet  he  had  no  reason  for  it. 

The  man  is  to  be  pitied  by  all,  and  unless  he 
is  able  to  calm  his  mind  with  the  solace  that  comes 
from  philosophical  temperament,  it  would  have 
been  far  better  were  he  among  the  dead.  He 
may  in  the  end  find  another  mate;  but,  seen 
from  the  angle  of  natural  law,  it  must  be  doubted 
that  the  pity,  which  would  have  to  be  the  great 
factor  in  such  a  love,  would  in  any  degree  be  as 
valuable  as  the  sexual  instinct  which  caused 
the  other  woman  to  go  her  own  ways.  Idealism 
and  practice  are  always  two  different  things. 
The  former  is  the  star  that  guides  the  craft,  while 
practice  is  the  storm-tossed  sea. 

More  than  fifty  thousand  Russian  prisoners- 
of-war  petitioned  the  Austrian  government  to  be 
admitted  to  citizenship  in  the  country  that  held 
them  captive.  Many  of  these  men  had  been 
sent  into  the  rural  districts  to  assist  the  farmers. 
Others  were  busy  around  the  cities.  They  had 
come  to  be  reconciled  with  their  lot,  had  ac- 
quired a  fair  working  knowledge  of  the  language, 
and  association  with  the  women  had  led  to  the 

346 


SEX   MORALITY   AND    WAR 

usual  results.  The  crop  of  "war"  babies  in- 
creased. 

The  Russians  were  willing  to  marry  these 
women,  but  under  the  law  could  not  do  so. 
Hence  the  petition  for  admission  to  the  usual 
civil  rights.  The  Austrian  government  recog- 
nized the  situation,  but  in  the  absence  of  the 
necessary  legislative  authority  could  do  nothing 
to  admit  the  Russian  to  Austrian  Staatsange- 
horigkeit.  Yet  it  was  eager  to  do  that.  The  new 
blood  was  needed. 

Travel  about  the  country  has  often  brought  to 
my  attention  that  in  certain  districts  inter- 
marriage for  centuries  had  led  to  degeneration. 
Goiter,  one  of  the  first  signals  of  warning  that 
new  blood  must  be  infused  in  the  race,  was 
prevalent.  Scientists  had  drawn  attention  to 
this  long  before  the  war.  But  there  was  nothing 
that  could  be  done. 

The  Russian  prisoners-of-war  came  to  serve  as 
the  solution  of  the  problem.  Their  offspring 
were  unusually  robust,  and  some  cranium  meas- 
urements that  were  made  showed  that  the  chil- 
dren were  of  the  best  type  mentally. 

A  state  which  was  losing  men  at  a  frightful 
rate  every  day  could  not  be  expected  to  view 
this  increase  in  population  with  alarm.  So  long 
as  the  mothers  were  Austrian  all  was  well  from 
the  political  point  of  view,  since  it  is  the  mother 
usually  who  rears  the  patriot.  The  Russians, 
moreover,  soon  grew  fond  of  the  institutions  of 
Austria,  and  gave  return  to  their  own  people 
hardly  any  thought.  Conversation  with  many 

347 


THE    IRON   RATION 

of  them  demonstrated  that,  on  the  contrary, 
they  were  not  anxious  to  go  home.  Russia  was 
then  still  the  absolute  autocracy,  and  these  men 
were  not  minded  to  exchange  the  liberal  govern- 
ment of  Austria  for  the  despotism  they  knew. 

I  may  state  here  that  the  Austrian  govern- 
ment, serving  in  this  instance  as  the  example  of 
all  others  in  Central  Europe,  had  done  its  level 
best  to  promote  this  very  thing.  On  several 
trips  to  prison  camps  I  visited  the  schools  in 
which  the  Russian  prisoners  were  being  taught 
German.  Thousands  of  the  men  were  thus  given 
their  first  chance  to  read  and  write,  and  to  the 
more  intelligent  was  apparent  the  irony  of  fate 
that  caused  them  to  read  and  write  German  in- 
stead of  their  own  language.  No  more  deliberate 
attempt  to  win  friends  could  have  been  devised 
and  executed.  Small  wonder  that  on  one  oc- 
casion a  Russian  working  detachment  employed 
in  road-making  on  the  Italian  front  rushed  to 
the  assistance  of  the  Austrians  who  were  being 
overwhelmed,  and  cut  down  the  last  of  their 
allies  with  their  spades  and  picks. 

To  what  extent  Russian  blood  has  been  in- 
fused in  the  rural  population  of  Austria  and 
Hungary  is  at  present  entirely  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture. The  same  applies  to  Germany,  though 
I  must  state  that  in  this  case  the  number  cannot 
be  so  great. 

Dreary  as  the  picture  is,  it  is  not  without  its 
brighter  spots.  The  mixture  of  blood  which 
has  occurred  in  many  of  these  countries  will 
improve  the  human  stock.  And  who  would  care 

348 


SEX   MORALITY   AND    WAR 

to  gainsay  that  governments  are  not  in  the  habit 
of  looking  at  populations  from  that  angle — the 
angle  of  stock?  None  will  admit  it,  of  course, 
they  may  not  even  be  conscious  of  the  fact  that 
they  hold  this  view.  But  so  long  as  governments 
are  interested  more  in  quantity  than  in  quality 
of  propagation  they  cannot  easily  clear  them- 
selves of  the  suspicion.  I  am  not  at  all  sure  that 
it  is  not  better  thus. 

I  have  so  far  treated  the  post-bellum  aspect  of 
sex  morality  entirely  from  the  position  of  the 
man.  Women  will  ask  the  question:  What  do 
the  women  think  of  it? 

That  depends  somewhat  on  conditions  and 
circumstances. 

"When  one  is  forty,  one  is  satisfied  with  being 
madame,"  said  a  Hungarian  lady  to  me  once, 
when  the  subject  had  been  discussed.  She 
meant  that  the  woman  of  forty  was  content 
with  being  the  head  of  a  household. 

Such  an  attitude  takes  a  breadth  of  view 
altogether  unknown  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  world. 
I  found  it  often  in  Central  Europe,  especially 
in  Austria,  where  one  day  were  pointed  out  to 
me  two  couples  who  not  so  very  long  before  had 
changed  mates  by  mutual  consent  on  the  part 
of  all  four  concerned.  One  of  the  husbands  is  a 
rich  banker,  and  the  other,  his  best  friend  by 
the  way,  is  also  well  off.  The  double  pair 
go  to  the  same  cafe",  sit  at  the  same  table,  and 
their  friends  think  nothing  of  it.  They  are  regu- 
larly divorced  and  married,  of  course. 

While  elsewhere  in  Central  Europe  the  same 


THE    IRON    RATION 

easy  view  is  not  taken,  it  is  a  fact,  nevertheless, 
that  nowhere  much  puritanical  strait-lacedness 
is  to  be  encountered.  I  happen  to  know  a  cer- 
tain successful  diplomat  who  closed  both  eyes  to 
his  wife's  infatuation  for  a  young  naval  officer. 
The  wife  was  young  and  her  husband  was  past 
middle  age.  Rather  than  lose  the  woman  and 
have  a  scandal  besides,  the  diplomatist  applied 
to  himself  what  he  had  so  often  applied  to 
others — the  deception  there  is  in  self-restraint. 

The  three  of  them  got  along  well  together. 
Often  I  was  the  fourth  at  table.  While  the 
diplomatist  and  I  would  smoke  our  cigars  and 
sip  our  coffee,  the  two  would  sit  side  by  side  on 
the  ottoman  and  hold  intimate  converse.  But 
in  Europe  it  is  considered  tactless  to  speak  of 
such  matters. 

There  will  be  heartache,  of  course.  Many  a 
good  woman  will  find  herself  displaced  by  a 
younger  one.  But  that  will  not  be  without  some 
compensation.  The  husband  who  would  desert 
his  mate  because  the  charms  of  youth  have 
flown  may  not  be  worth  keeping.  It  may  even 
be  an  act  of  mercy  that  he  has  rekindled  his 
affection  at  some  other  shrine.  The  forsaken 
wife  may  have  grown  very  weary  herself  of  the 
life  conjugal. 

In  Protestant  Germany  the  readjustment  will 
be  easier  than  in  Catholic  Austria  and  Hungary. 
In  the  latter  countries  much  double-living  will 
result,  and  that  means  that  more  women  will 
have  to  sacrifice  more  self-respect.  That  is  the 
worst  part  of  it. 

350 


SEX   MORALITY   AND    WAR 

But,  again,  the  legere  views  of  Central  Europe 
come  into  play.  So  long  as  the  man  has  sense 
enough  to  keep  his  "war"  wife  in  the  back- 
ground, nobody  will  take  offense,  and  the  legal 
wife  may  not  mind.  Officially,  the  paramour 
will  not  exist.  As  soon  as  she  has  children  she 
will  be  a  "Mrs."  in  her  own  right,  and  I  suppose 
that  many  will  not  wait  that  long  before  chang- 
ing "Frdulein"  into  "Frau." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  condition  is  unjust 
to  two  women  at  the  same  time.  But  there 
seems  to  be  no  escape  from  it.  Ministers  of  the 
gospel  have  already  roundly  condemned  what 
seeming  sanction  the  government  has  given  to 
illicit  intercourse.  But  these  good  men  are  theo- 
rists, while  the  government  is  practical — prac- 
tical for  the  reason  that  a  great  social  problem 
has  to  be  met  in  the  best  manner  possible.  It 
is  far  better  to  give  the  thing  such  aspects  of 
decency  as  is  possible  rather  than  to  encourage  the 
growth  of  the  social  evil  into  proportions  that 
might  for  all  time  impair  the  health  of  the  race. 
Students  of  the  social  evil  generally  agree, 
throughout  Europe  at  least,  that  its  prime  causes 
are  economic.  Communities  in  which  the  man, 
by  reason  of  small  income,  is  not  able  to  establish 
a  household  early  in  life  have  not  only  the 
greatest  number  of  loose  women,  but  also  the 
greatest  number  of  free-living  bachelors. 

The  problem,  then,  has  an  economic  side.  In 
the  instance  here  under  scrutiny,  the  economic 
side  is  that  more  women  than  ever  before  must 
earn  their  own  living  in  Central  Europe  to-day. 

351 


THE    IRON    RATION 

The  women  will  readily  do  that,  so  long  as  so- 
ciety will  not  entirely  deny  them  the  company 
of  the  man  or  place  upon  such  company  the 
stigma  that  generally  attaches  to  it.  Without 
such  privileges  many  of  these  women — nature 
decrees  ironically  that  they  should  be  physically 
the  best  of  the  race — would  take  to  vice  in  such 
numbers  that  society  would  lose  more  by  being 
ungenerous  than  by  taking  a  common-sense  view 
of  the  problem  it  has  to  face. 

But  logic  in  such  matters  is  no  balm  of  Gilead. 
The  young  married  woman  will  be  able  to  com- 
pete with  the  "surplus";  the  older  ones,  I  fear, 
will  not.  To  them  the  war  will  be  the  thing  of 
the  hour,  long  after  the  grass  has  grown  over  the 
trenches,  long  after  the  work  of  reconstruction 
shall  have  healed  the  economic  wounds. 

There  will  be  many  who  can  truly  say,  "I  lost 
my  husband  in  the  war.'*  And  the  worst  of  it  is 
that  they  will  not  be  able  to  say  this  with  the 
tenderness  that  was  in  the  heart  at  the  departure 
for  the  field  of  battle. 


XX 

WAR   LOANS  AND   ECONOMY 

DURING  the  last  three  years  and  a  half  the 
political  economy  of  Germany  and  her 
allies  has  strongly  resembled  that  in  vogue 
among  certain  South  Sea  Islanders,  who  are  sup- 
posed to  make  a  living  by  taking  in  one  another's 
washing.  The  same  money  has  been  making 
the  rounds  on  one  of  the  oddest  economic  whirli- 
gigs mankind  has  so  far  seen. 

The  war  has  been  carried  on  by  means  of 
funds  derived  mostly  from  war  loans.  By  means 
of  them  Germany  has  so  far  raised,  roughly, 
$19,800,000,000,  and  Austria-Hungary  $8,600,- 
000,000,  making  a  total  of  $28,400,000,000.  In 
addition  to  that  the  two  countries  have  spent 
on  the  war  about  $2,300,000,000  derived  from 
other  sources — taxation,  indemnities  levied  in  oc- 
cupied territories,  and  property  here  and  there 
confiscated. 

Within  my  scope,  however,  lie  only  the  war 
loans. 

The  interest  on  the  German  war  loans  so  far 
made  amounts  to  $762,000,000  per  year.  To  the 
German  public  debts  the  loans  have  added  $293 

353 


THE    IRON    RATION 

per  capita,  or  $1,082  for  each  producer  in  a  popu- 
lation which  the  war  has  reduced  to  about  67,500,- 
000  fit  individuals.  Each  wage-earner  in  Ger- 
many will  in  the  future  carry  a  tax  burden  which 
in  addition  to  all  other  moneys  needed  by  the 
government  will  be  weighted  every  year  by  $43.28 
interest  on  the  present  war  loans. 

Austria-Hungary's  load  of  interest  on  war  loans 
will  amount  to  $344,000,000  annually.  The  bur- 
den is  $204  per  capita,  or  $816  for  each  wage- 
earner,  out  of  a  population  which  war  losses  have 
cut  down  to  about  42,200,000.  The  annual  in- 
terest each  Austro-Hungarian  bread-winner  will 
have  to  pay  on  the  war  loans  is  $32.64,  and  in 
addition  he  must  provide  the  revenues  which 
his  governments  will  need  to  operate. 

This  means,  of  course,  that  the  cry  for  bread 
will  be  heard  long  after  the  guns  thunder  no 
more.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  aver- 
age yearly  income  of  the  wage-earner  was  a 
scant  $460  in  Germany,  and  $390  in  Austria- 
Hungary.  The  war  loan  interest  so  far  in  sight 
will  constitute  about  9.3  per  cent,  and  8.2  per 
cent,  respectively — no  small  burden  when  it  is 
considered  that  all  other  revenues  needed  by 
the  government  must  be  added  to  this. 

But  the  bitter  cup  of  economic  losses  due  to 
the  war  is  by  no  means  full  with  these  figures. 
The  Germans  have  so  far  lost,  killed  in  action 
and  dead  of  wounds,  fully  1,500,000  able-bodied 
producers,  and  have  at  this  time  to  care  for 
about  900,000  men,  of  whom  one  half  is  totally 
incapacitated  and  the  other  half  partly  so.  The 

354 


WAR   LOANS   AND    ECONOMY 

Austro-Hungarian  figures  are  650,000  men  dead, 
and  380,000  totally  or  partly  crippled.  In  other 
words,  Germany  has  lost  2,300,000  able-bodied 
men,  and  Austria-Hungary  1,030,000.  It  may 
well  be  said  that  those  dead  can  no  longer  figure 
in  the  economic  scheme,  because  they  consume 
no  longer.  On  the  other  hand,  each  of  these 
men  had  another  twenty  years  of  useful  life 
before  him.  This  long  period  of  production  has 
now  been  lost,  and  two  decades  must  elapse 
before  the  Central  states  will  again  have  as 
many  producers  as  they  had  in  1914.  Their 
propagation  has  also  been  lost,  though,  with 
the  women  as  strong  numerically  as  before,  this 
loss  will  probably  have  been  made  good  within 
ten  years. 

Before  treating  further  of  the  effects  of  war 
loans  and  their  influence  upon  the  body  politic, 
I  will  examine  here  how  these  loans  were  made, 
in  what  manner  they  were  applied,  and  what  the 
system  of  economy  was  to  which  the  transaction 
gave  birth. 

The  figures  I  have  cited  may  well  suggest  the 
question : 

How  was  it  possible  under  such  conditions  to 
make  war  loans? 

The  superficial  reply  to  that  would  be: 

By  raising  the  money  in  the  country — inducing 
the  people  to  subscribe  to  the  loans. 

The  reply  has  no  value,  since  it  does  not  dis- 
close how  the  necessary  money  was  made  avail- 
able. The  funds  invested  in  the  war  loans  were 
a  part  of  the  national  capital,  not  a  portion  of 

355 


THE   IRON   RATION 

the  national  wealth,  the  term  wealth  standing 
for  the  natural  resources  of  a  community. 
But  capital  is  the  surplus  of  production,  and 
production  results  only  from  applying  labor 
to  natural  resources;  for  instance,  by  tilling  the 
soil,  mining  coal  and  ore,  and  engaging  in  the 
conversion  of  the  less  useful  into  the  more  useful, 
as  is  done  in  industry.  A  surplus  of  production 
is  possible  only,  however,  when  consumption 
falls  below  production,  for  that  which  is  left  over 
of  the  thing  produced  makes  the  surplus.  This 
surplus  is  capital. 

Incomplete  figures  which  I  was  able  to  gather 
in  1916  showed  that  before  the  war  the  average 
wage-earner  of  Central  Europe  had  produced 
and  consumed  in  a  ratio  of  55  against  48,  so 
far  as  the  scale  of  pay  and  cost-of-living  showed. 
The  difference  of  7  points  represented  the  amount 
of  money  he  could  save  if  he  wanted  to  do  that. 
The  7  points,  then,  were  the  actual  increase  in 
the  national  capital. 

In  the  winter  of  1916-17  the  figures  had 
undergone  a  remarkable  change.  Wages  had 
been  increased  to  70  points,  while  the  cost  of 
food  had  risen  to  115  points  as  against  48  for- 
merly. In  other  words,  while  the  wage-earner  was 
getting  15  points  more  for  his  labor,  he  was 
paying  67  points  more  for  his  food  and  the 
necessities  of  life.  The  place  of  the  7  positives 
in  capital  production  had  been  taken  by  45 
negatives,  which  meant  that  the  national  capital 
of  Central  Europe  had  fallen  below  static,  the 
point  where  neither  increase  nor  reduction  takes 

356 


WAR    LOANS   AND    ECONOMY 

place,  by  38  points.  The  national  capital  had 
been  decreased  38  per  cent.,  therefore.  That 
much  of  all  present  and  former  surplus  produc- 
tion of  the  two  states  had  been  used  up  in  the 
pursuit  of  the  war. 

Governments  deem  it  a  safe  policy  to  issue  in 
times  of  financial  stress  three  times  as  much 
paper  currency  as  they  have  bullion  in  the 
vaults.  One  million  in  gold  makes  three  mill- 
ions in  paper  with  that  formula.  This  had  been 
done  in  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  to  quite 
an  extent  by  the  end  of  1916.  For  every  million 
of  gold  in  the  vaults  there  was  a  million  of  bona 
fide  paper  money.  That  was  well  enough.  The 
currency  system  of  the  United  States  adheres  to 
that  principle  in  times  of  peace  even.  But  upon 
the  same  million  of  metal  there  had  been  heaped 
other  paper  currency  which  carried  the  promise  of 
the  government  that  on  the  given  date  it  would  be 
redeemed  for  gold  or  its  equivalent.  This  method 
of  national  finance  is  known  as  inflation.  It  was 
this  inflation  that  caused  the  wage-earner  to  show 
in  his  own  little  budget  a  deficit  of  38  points. 

Why  the  government  should  have  inflated  its 
currency  in  that  manner  is  not  so  difficult  to 
understand  as  it  may  seem.  From  its  own  point 
of  view,  the  wage-earner  had  to  be  lashed  into 
greater  effort  if  the  moneys  needed  for  the  war 
were  to  be  available  and  if  the  food  and  material 
consumed  by  the  army  were  to  be  produced. 
The  more  the  consumer  had  to  pay  for  what  he 
required  to  sustain  life  the  harder  he  had  to 
work.  His  deficit  of  38  points  was  the  yoke 

24  357 


THE    IRON    RATION 

under  which  he  labored  for  the  army  in  the  field, 
which  was  consuming  without  producing  any- 
thing. These  38  points  were  only  17  points  less 
than  the  55  which  had  represented  his  income 
before  the  war — in  round  terms  every  two  wage- 
earners  in  Central  Europe  were  supporting  in 
food,  clothing,  munition,  and  ammunition  a  sol- 
dier at  the  front.  It  could  not  be  otherwise  since 
two  political  aggregates  having  then  approxi- 
mately, with  the  women  included,  twenty-five 
million  wage-earners,  were  keeping  under  arms 
about  ten  million  soldiers,  and  were  meanwhile 
providing  the  heavy  profits  made  by  the  war 
purveyors. 

Though  the  38  points  were  a  deficit,  the  pro- 
ducer-consumer was  not  allowed  to  look  at  them 
in  that  manner.  It  was  his  task  to  cover  this 
deficit.  This  he  did  by  paying  more  for  his  food 
and  necessities,  through  a  channel  which  the  in- 
flated currency  had  filled  with  water  in  the 
familiar  stock-jobbing  phrase.  The  middlemen 
who  owned  the  barges  in  the  channel  were  taxed 
by  the  government  on  their  war  profits,  but  enough 
was  left  them  to  preserve  interest  in  the  scheme 
of  war  economy,  a  friendly  act  which  the  middle- 
men reciprocated  by  generous  subscriptions  to 
the  war  loans. 

The  first,  second,  and  third  war  loans  in  Cen- 
tral Europe  were  subscribed  to  with  much, 
though  later  dwindling,  enthusiasm.  Patriot- 
ism had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  their  success. 
Real  money  was  required  by  the  government, 
moreover.  Bank  accounts,  government  securi- 

358 


WAR   LOANS    AND    ECONOMY 

ties,  sound  commercial  paper,  and  savings  de- 
posits were  turned  over.  The  loans  made  later 
were  devoid  of  many  of  these  features.  Those 
who  bought  war-loan  certificates  did  so  because 
it  was  necessary  for  one  reason  or  another,  and 
many  of  the  war  bonds  obtained  in  the  first  loans 
were  converted.  The  war  and  all  that  pertained 
to  it  was  now  entirely  a  matter  of  business  with 
those  who  could  subscribe.  The  poor  were  tired 
of  any  aspect  of  war. 

The  government  could  not  prevent  their  being 
tired,  but  it  could  see  to  it  that  indirectly  the 
masses  supported  the  war  policy,  no  matter  what 
they  thought.  That  was  not  difficult.  The 
high  cost  of  living  took  from  the  producer-con- 
sumer what  the  government  needed,  and  there  is 
no  system  of  discipline  that  is  quite  so  efficacious 
as  keeping  a  man's  nose  to  the  grindstone. 

Sleek  bankers  used  to  inform  me  that  there 
was  much  prosperity  in  the  country.  There  was 
from  their  point  of  view.  The  margin  between 
the  wages  paid  the  producer  and  the  prices  asked 
of  the  consumer  was  great  enough  to  satisfy  the 
interested  parties,  government  and  middleman 
alike.  The  war  loans  had  hardly  been  closed 
when  a  good  share  of  them  was  again  in  circula- 
tion. The  whirligig  of  war  economy  was  spin- 
ning lustily,  and  there  was  no  danger  of  things 
going  wrong  so  long  as  the  producer-consumer 
was  kept  well  in  hand. 

How  the  war  loans  made  the  rounds  is  quite 
interesting.  It  is  the  closest  approach  to  per- 
petual motion  I  have  come  across. 

359 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Since  the  Central  states  could  buy  in  foreign 
countries  only  by  means  of  special  trade  agree- 
ments that  called  for  an  exchange  in  commodities 
rather  than  for  the  medium  of  exchange,  the 
money  raised  by  the  war  loans  remained  within 
the  realm.  Much  of  it  went  to  makers  of  arms 
and  ammunition,  of  course.  In  their  case  a 
million  marks — I  am  using  this  small  amount  as 
a  unit  only — would  lead  to  the  following  results: 
To  the  manufacturer  would  go  60  per  cent,  of 
the  total  and  to  labor  40.  Subdivided  these 
shares  paid  for  raw  material,  plant  investment, 
operation  expenses,  and  profits  so  large  that  the 
government  could  impose  a  tax  of  75  per  cent, 
without  making  it  impossible  for  the  manufact- 
urer to  subscribe  to  the  next  loan.  Labor,  on 
the  other  hand,  found  itself  barely  able  to  sustain 
life,  and  if  a  few  marks  were  saved  by  some,  little 
or  nothing  could  be  bought  for  them.  The 
man  who  was  earning  70  marks  a  week,  instead 
of  55,  was  paying  for  his  food  and  necessities  115 
instead  of  48  marks — an  economic  incongruity 
at  first  glance,  but  perfectly  feasible  so  long  as 
those  affected  could  be  induced  to  live  on  about 
85  per  cent,  of  the  ration  needed  to  properly 
nourish  the  body,  and  had  given  up  entirely  the 
comforts  of  life.  That  scheme  left  him  hope 
for  better  times  as  the  only  comfort.  No  matter 
how  often  the  money  of  the  war  loans  rushed 
through  his  hands,  none  of  it  ever  stuck  to  them. 

Before  long  it  was  plain  that  in  this  fashion  the 
Central  Powers  could  keep  up  the  war  forever. 
Their  financial  standing  in  foreign  countries  need 

360 


WAR   LOANS   AND    ECONOMY 

not  worry  them  so  long  as  they  could  not  buy 
commodities  in  them.  To  be  sure,  the  public 
debt  was  increasing  rapidly,  but  the  very  people  to 
whom  the  government  owed  money  were  respon- 
sible for  that  money.  If  bankruptcy  came  to  the 
state  they  would  be  the  losers,  and  that  re- 
sponsibility increased  as  their  wealth  increased. 
Capital  and  government  became  a  co-operative 
organization,  and  both  of  them  exploited  the 
producer-consumer,  by  giving  him  as  little  for  his 
labor  as  he  would  take  and  charging  him  as  much 
for  the  necessities  of  life  as  he  would  stand  for — 
and  that  was  much.  When  now  and  then  it 
seemed  necessary  to  placate  the  producer-con- 
sumer, he  would  be  told  that  in  the  interest  of  the 
Fatherland  the  government  was  compelled  to  do 
what  it  did.  But  the  necessity  for  this  came  not 
often.  The  small  man  was  generally  overjoyed 
when  the  government  was  able  to  announce  that 
the  war  loan  had  been  a  success  or  had  been  over- 
subscribed. That  is  all  he  wanted  to  know,  so 
long  as  he  was  not  required  to  go  to  the  front. 
The  success  of  the  war  loan  meant  that  he  would 
have  work — and  live  to  see  the  end  of  a  war 
which  everybody  claimed  had  been  forced  upon 
the  state. 

It  is  certain  that  the  Central  states  govern- 
ments would  have  been  bankrupt  long  ago  had 
they  been  able  to  buy  in  the  foreign  market  ad 
libitum,  though  in  that  case  the  foreign  trade 
connections  would  have  also  seen  to  it  that  war 
loans  were  made  to  the  Germans  and  Austro- 
Hungarians.  There  is  no  doubt  at  all  that 

361 


THE    IRON    RATION 

a  Germany  permitted  to  buy  abroad  would 
have  later  been  less  able  to  organize  herself  as 
efficiently  economically  as  she  did  when  her 
financial  strength  was  still  unimpaired  for  in- 
ternal purposes.  To  this  extent  the  swift  descent 
of  the  British  blockade  is  one  of  the  gravest 
errors  booked  on  the  debit  side  of  the  Entente's 
politico-military  ledger.  Absolutely  nothing  was 
gained  in  a  military  sense  by  shutting  the  import 
door  of  the  Central  states.  Far-seeing  statesmen 
would  have  allowed  Germany  to  import  all  she 
wanted  and  would  then  have  seen  to  it  that  her 
exports  were  kept  to  a  minimum,  so  far  as  the 
shortage  of  man-power  in  the  country  did  not 
automatically  bring  about  that  result. 

As  it  was,  the  Central  states  supplanted  and 
substituted  right  and  left,  made  new  uses  of 
their  own  natural  resources,  and  fitted  them- 
selves for  the  long  siege  at  a  time  when  doing 
that  was  still  easy.  The  British  blockade,  if  ap- 
plied in  the  winter  of  1915-16,  would  have  had 
effects  it  could  not  hope  to  attain  in  the  winter  of 
1914-15,  when  almost  any  rational  being  knew 
that  to  starve  out  the  Central  states  was  not  to 
be  thought  of.  The  Central  states  would  have 
continued  to  live  very  much  as  before,  and  by 
the  end  of  1915  the  governments  would  have  been 
obliged  to  shut  down  on  imports  of  food  for  the 
civilian  population  if  the  gold  reserve  was  not  to 
be  exhausted  completely,  as  would  have  been 
the  case  if  exports  could  not  balance  imports  to 
any  extent.  Production  and  consumption  would 
then  not  have  been  as  well  organized  as  they 

362 


WAR   LOANS   AND    ECONOMY 

were  under  the  auspices  of  the  premature  block- 
ade, and  the  downfall  for  which  the  Entente  has 
until  now  vainly  hoped,  and  which  will  remain 
the  greatest  spes  fallax  of  all  time,  would  then 
have  surely  come.  That  bolt  was  shot  too  soon 
by  Great  Britain. 

Though  the  Central  governments  were  fully 
aware  of  this,  as  some  of  their  officials  admitted 
to  me,  they  had  no  reason  to  bring  this  to  the 
attention  of  their  publics  or  the  world.  The 
British  Aushungerungspolitik — policy  of  starva- 
tion— was  the  most  potent  argument  the  Central 
governments  had  to  present  to  their  war-tired 
people.  What  the  German  air  raids  on  London 
accomplished  in  promoting  the  British  war  spirit 
the  blockade  of  the  Central  states  effected  in  the 
German  Empire  and  Austria-Hungary.  In  a  war 
of  such  dimensions  it  was  foolish  to  thus  drive 
the  governed  into  the  arms  of  their  governors. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  Central  Eu- 
ropean states  to-day  is  as  sound  as  that  of  the 
Entente  states.  That  would  not  be  true  if  any 
great  share  of  the  Central  European  war  loans 
had  been  raised  in  foreign  countries.  But,  as  I 
have  shown,  this  was  not  done. 

That  the  war  debt  is  great  is  a  fact.  The  gov- 
ernment's creditors  are  all  in  the  country,  how- 
ever, and  if  need  be  it  can  set  against  them  the 
tax-tired  multitude.  For  that  there  will  be  no 
necessity.  The  depreciation  of  the  currency  has 
automatically  reduced  by  as  much  as  25  per  cent, 
on  an  average  all  state  indebtedness,  in  so  far  as 
capital  is  a  lien  against  the  community's  natural 

363 


THE    IRON   RATION 

resources  and  labor.  But  of  this  more  will  be 
said  at  the  proper  time. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1917  the  German  and 
Austro-Hungarian  governments  were  occupied 
with  the  question  to  what  extent  it  would  be  pos- 
sible to  lighten  the  burden  of  the  taxpayer. 
Nothing  came  of  it  for  the  reason  that  finally  it 
was  concluded  that  the  time  for  financial  re- 
organization was  not  yet  come.  Inflated  money 
and  high  prices  would  still  have  to  be  used  to 
keep  the  producer  at  maximum  effort  and  prevent 
his  consuming  more  than  could  be  permitted. 

But  the  methods  of  financial  reorganization, 
or  we  may  call  it  reconstruction,  that  were  dis- 
cussed are  none  the  less  interesting.  They  in- 
volved a  reduction  of  the  interest  which  the 
government  has  to  pay  on  war  loans,  as  well  as 
a  lightening  of  the  war-loan  burden.  It  was  ten- 
tatively proposed  to  either  cut  into  half  the  rate 
of  interest  or  to  reduce  by  one-half  the  principal. 

One  would  think  that  the  Central  European 
bankers  would  oppose  such  a  step.  They  did 
not,  however.  For  the  sake  of  pre-war  loans  and 
investments,  these  men  must  favor  a  rehabilita- 
tion of  the  currency,  and  nothing  would  do  that 
as  effectively  as  a  reduction  of  the  war  debt. 
The  mark  and  crown  buy  to-day  from  one-third 
to  one-half  what  they  bought  in  1914.  With  the 
war  debt  cut  down  to  one-half  they  would  buy 
from  60  to  75  per  cent,  what  they  bought  in  that 
year.  As  a  measure  of  socio-economic  justice,  if 
there  be  such  a  thing,  the  reconstruction  pro- 
posed would  appeal  to  all  who  invested  money 

364 


WAR   LOANS   AND    ECONOMY 

before  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  These  people 
put  up  money  at  the  rate  of  100,  while  the  interest 
they  are  getting  to-day  is  worth  from  33  to  50. 
The  man  who  in  1914  invested  100,000  marks 
would  indeed  get  back  100,000  marks.  The 
trouble  is  that  the  mark  has  depreciated  in  pur- 
chasing power,  so  that  his  capital  has  shrunk  to 
33,000  or  50,000  marks,  as  the  case  may  be. 

War  does  not  only  mortgage  the  future  of  a 
nation,  but  it  also  has  the  knack  of  tearing  down 
the  past. 

Tired  of  hotel  life,  I  had  made  up  my  mind  in 
Vienna  to  find  private  quarters.  In  the  end  I 
found  what  I  wanted.  I  ought  to  have  been  sat- 
isfied with  my  lodging,  seeing  that  it  was  the  com- 
fortable home  of  the  widow  of  a  former  professor 
of  the  Vienna  university. 

I  never  experienced  such  mixed  feelings  in  my 
life  as  when  I  discussed  terms  with  the  woman. 
She  was  a  person  of  breeding  and  tact  and  consid- 
erable false  pride.  How  much  did  I  want  to  pay? 
She  did  not  know  what  she  ought  to  ask.  She 
had  never  rented  rooms  before. 

We  arrived  at  an  understanding.  I  moved  into 
the  well-furnished  flat  and  the  old  lady  into  her 
kitchen,  where  she  lived  and  cooked  and  slept, 
together  with  a  parrot,  until  I  turned  over  to  her 
the  bedroom  and  occupied  the  couch  in  the 
parlor. 

Before  the  war  the  woman  had  fared  better. 
She  was  getting  a  small  pension  and  had  a  little 
capital.  The  income  had  been  large  enough  to 
give  her  a  servant.  When  I  moved  in,  the  ser- 

365 


THE    IRON    RATION 

vant  was  gone  long  ago,  and  I  suspect  that  since 
then  there  had  been  days  when  the  old  lady  did 
not  have  enough  to  eat.  Still,  she  was  getting 
the  same  pension  and  her  little  capital  was  bring- 
ing the  same  interest.  The  difficulty  was  that 
the  income  bought  but  a  third  of  what  it  had 
formerly  secured. 

There  were  thousands  of  such  cases,  involving 
pensioners,  widows,  and  orphans.  In  their  case 
the  world  had  not  only  stood  still,  but  it  had 
actually  gone  backward.  The  inflated  currency 
left  them  stranded,  and  the  worst  of  it  was  that 
taxes  were  growing  with  every  day.  The  govern- 
ment was  levying  tribute  on  the  basis  of  the  in- 
flated money.  These  people  had  to  pay  it  with 
coin  that  was  100  so  far  as  they  were  concerned. 

Real-estate  owners  were  in  no  better  position. 
The  moratorium  prevented  them  fron  increasing 
rents,  which  step  had  to  be  taken  in  the  interest 
of  the  families  of  the  men  at  the  front.  Taxes 
kept  growing,  however,  and  when  the  income 
from  rent  houses  was  all  a  person  had  there  was 
nothing  to  do  but  stint.  With  the  currency  as 
low  as  it  was,  nobody  cared  to  sell  real  property 
of  course.  It  was  nothing  unusual  to  see  the 
small  rent-house  owner  act  as  his  own  janitor. 

While  the  war  loans  and  government  contracts 
were  making  some  immensely  rich,  thousands 
of  the  middle  class  were  being  beggared.  But 
there  is  nothing  extraordinary  in  this.  The 
socio-economic  structure  may  be  likened  to  a 
container  that  holds  the  national  wealth.  For 
purposes  of  its  own  the  government  had  watered 


WAR   LOANS   AND    ECONOMY 

the  contents  of  the  bucket  and  now  all  had  to 
take  from  it  the  thinned  gruel.  That  thousands 
of  aged  men  and  women  had  to  suffer  from  this 
could  make  little  impression  on  governments 
that  were  sacrificing  daily  the  lives  and  health  of 
able-bodied  producers  on  the  battle-fields — one 
of  whom  was  of  greater  economic  value  to  the 
state  than  a  dozen  of  those  who  were  content  to 
spend  their  life  on  small  incomes  without  working. 


XXI 

THE  AFTERMATH 

IN  Caesar's  time  the  pound  of  beef  at  Rome  cost 
lj^  American  cents.  At  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  it  was  2^  cents,  due  largely  to 
the  influence  of  the  Crusades.  In  a  Vienna 
library  there  is  an  old  economic  work  which  con- 
tains a  decree  of  the  Imperial  German  govern- 
ment at  Vienna  fixing  the  price  of  a  pound  of 
beef,  in  1645,  at  10  pfennige,  or  2^  American 
cents.  When  peace  followed  the  Seven  Years' 
War  the  pound  of  beef  at  Berlin  was  sold  at  4 
cents  American.  During  the  Napoleonic  wars  it 
went  up  to  Q^/2  cents,  and  when  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  was  terminated  beef  in  Germany 
was  9  cents  the  pound.  The  price  of  bread, 
meanwhile,  had  always  been  from  one-tenth  to 
one-quarter  that  of  beef.  In  Central  Europe 
to-day  the  price  of  beef  is  from  60  to  75  cents  a 
pound,  while  bread  costs  about  5^  cents  a 
pound.  The  cost  of  other  foods  is  in  proportion 
to  these  prices,  provided  it  is  bought  in  the 
legitimate  market.  As  I  have  shown,  almost  any 
price  is  paid  in  the  illicit  trade.  I  know  of  ca^es 
when  as  much  as  40  cents  was  paid  for  a  pound 

368 


THE    AFTERMATH 

of  wheat  flour,  $2.70  for  a  pound  of  butter,  $2.20 
for  a  pound  of  lard,  and  50  cents  for  a  pound  of 
sugar.  I  have  bought  sugar  for  that  price  my- 
self. 

These  figures  show  that  there  has  been  a  steady 
upward  tendency  in  food  prices  ever  since  the 
days  of  imperial  Rome,  and  we  have  no  reason 
to  believe  that  it  was  different  in  the  days  of 
Numa  Pompilius. 

Looking  at  the  thing  from  that  angle,  we  must 
arrive  at  a  period  when  food,  in  terms  of  currency, 
cost  nothing  at  all.  Such,  indeed,  is  the  fact. 
When  man  produced  himself  whatever  he  and 
his  needed,  money  was  not  a  factor  in  the  cost  of 
living.  The  tiller  of  the  soil,  wishing  to  vary  his 
diet,  exchanged  some  of  his  grain  for  the  catch 
of  the  fisherman,  the  first  industrial,  who  could 
not  live  by  fish  alone.  The  exchange  was  made 
in  kind  and  neither  of  the  traders  found  it  neces- 
sary to  make  use  of  a  medium  of  exchange — 
money.  The  necessity  for  such  a  medium  came 
when  exchange  in  kind  was  not  possible — when 
food  and  the  like  began  to  have  time,  place,  and 
tool  value,  when,  in  other  words,  they  were  no 
longer  traded  in  by  the  producer-consumers,  but 
were  bought  and  sold  in  markets. 

But  the  question  that  occupies  us  here  prin- 
cipally is,  Why  has  food  become  dearer? 

Actually  food  is  not  dearer  to-day  than  it  was 
in  Rome  under  Caesar.  The  fact  is  that  money  is 
cheaper,  and  money  is  cheaper  because  it  is  more 
plentiful.  Let  me  quote  a  case  that  is  somewhat 
abstract,  but  very  applicable  here. 

369 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Why  should  the  farmer  sell  food  when  the 
money  he  gets  for  it  will  purchase  little  by  virtue 
of  having  no  longer  its  former  purchasing  power? 
He  can  be  induced  to  sell  such  food  if  he  is  given 
enough  dollars  and  cents  to  buy  again  for  the 
proceeds  of  his  soil  and  labor  what  he  obtained 
through  them  before.  That  means  that  he  must 
be  given  more  money  for  his  wares.  But  that  he 
is  given  more  money  does  not  leave  him  better  off. 
What  difference  does  it  make  to  him  if  for  the 
bushel  of  wheat  he  gets  one  dollar  or  two  dollars 
when  the  price  of  an  article  he  must  buy  also 
jumps  from  one  to  two  dollars?  The  result  is  a 
naught  in  both  cases.  To  be  sure,  he  could  save 
more,  apparently,  from  two  than  he  could  from 
one  dollar.  That,  however,  is  fiction,  for  the 
reason  that  the  twenty  cents  he  may  save  of  two 
dollars  will  in  the  new  economic  era  buy  no  more 
than  the  ten  cents  he  saved  from  the  one  dollar. 

It  is  clear  now  that  the  farmer  has  not  profited 
by  the  increase  in  food  prices.  All  others  are 
in  the  same  position.  Money  has  ceased  to 
buy  as  much  as  before.  The  worker  who  is 
getting  twice  the  wages  he  received  before  the 
outbreak  of  a  war  is  obliged  to  pay  twice  as  much 
for  food.  Like  the  farmer,  he  is  no  better  off 
than  he  was.  He,  too,  sees  nothing  but  zero 
when  expenditures  are  subtracted  from  income. 

The  body  politic  is  a  living  organism  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  composed  of  living  organisms — 
men  and  women.  As  a  living  organism  this  body 
has  the  inherent  quality  to  repair  or  heal  the 
wounds  it  has  received.  The  men  lost  in  war  are 

370 


THE    AFTERMATH 

replaced  by  the  birth  of  others.  In  our  time,  at 
least,  the  women  are  no  longer  killed  off,  and 
since  the  remaining  males  are  able  to  fertilize 
them  a  decade  or  two  generally  suffices  to  make 
good  this  loss  which  the  body  politic  has  sus- 
tained. It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  average 
man  is  able  to  produce  many  times  the  number 
of  children  to  which  monogamy  limits  him.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  when 
polygamy  had  to  be  legalized  in  southern  Ger- 
many, Nuremberg  boasted  of  a  citizen  who  had 
thirty-seven  children  by  six  women. 

But  even  the  economic  wounds  of  the  body 
politic  heal  rapidly.  They  begin  to  heal  in  war 
almost  with  the  first  day  on  which  they  are  in- 
flicted. Over  them  spreads  the  protecting  scab 
of  cheap  money  and  high  prices. 

The  German  mark  buys  to-day  about  one- 
third  of  what  it  bought  in  July,  1914;  this  means 
that  it  is  worth  no  more  in  comparison  with  its 
former  value  as  a  lien  against  the  wealth  of  the 
German  nation.  The  several  German  govern- 
ments, however,  will  continue  to  pay  on  their 
public  debts  the  old  rate  of  interest,  and  when 
the  loans  are  called  in  the  depreciated  mark  will 
take  the  place  of  a  mark  that  had  full  value. 
The  gain  for  the  state  is  that  it  has  reduced 
automatically  its  old  public  debt  by  66  per  cent, 
in  interest  and  capital. 

The  same  applies  to  the  first  war  loans.  The 
German  war  loans  up  to  the  middle  of  1915  were 
made  with  a  mark  that  still  bought  90  per  cent, 
of  what  it  had  bought  before.  Interest  on  them 

371 


THE    IRON    RATION 

will  be  paid  and  the  loan  redeemed  with  a  mark 
which  to-day  has  a  purchasing  power  of  only 
33  pfennige.  If  nothing  is  done  to  interfere 
with  this  relation  of  currency  values,  the  German 
governments  will  actually  pay  interest  and  return 
the  loan  with  money  cheaper  by  62.97  per  cent, 
than  what  it  was  when  the  loans  were  made. 
The  fifth  war  loan  was  made  at  a  time  when  the 
purchasing  power  of  the  mark  was  down  to  about 
50  points,  so  that  on  this  the  "economic"  saving, 
as  established  with  the  present  purchasing  power 
of  the  mark,  would  be  only  33.34  per  cent.  On 
the  seventh  war  loan,  made  with  the  mark  down 
to  roughly  one-third  of  its  former  purchasing 
power,  nothing  could  be  saved  by  the  government 
if  redemption  of  the  loan  should  be  undertaken 
with  a  mark  buying  no  more  than  what  it  buys 
to-day. 

We  are  dealing  here  with  the  mark  as  a  thing 
that  will  procure  in  the  market  to-day  the  thing 
needed  to  live.  In  its  time  the  mark  that  made 
up  the  public  debt  and  the  war  loans  served  the 
same  purpose,  in  a  better  manner,  as  it  were. 
But  that  mark  is  no  more.  The  several  govern- 
ments of  Germany  will  pay  interest  and  redeem 
loans  in  the  mark  of  to-day,  without  paying  the 
slightest  heed  to  the  value  of  the  mark  turned 
over  to  them  when  the  loans  were  made. 

The  result  of  this  is  that  the  older  investments, 
be  they  in  government  securities  or  commercial 
paper,  have  lost  in  value.  We  must  take  a  look 
at  an  investor  in  order  to  understand  that  fully. 
Let  us  say  a  man  owns  in  government  bonds  and 

372 


THE    AFTERMATH 

industrial  stocks  the  sum  of  200,000  marks.  At 
4  per  cent,  that  would  give  him  an  annual  income 
of  8,000  marks,  a  sum  which  in  1914  would  have 
kept  him  in  Germany  very  comfortably,  if  his 
demands  were  modest.  To-day  that  income 
would  go  about  a  third  as  far.  His  8,000  marks 
would  buy  no  more  than  what  four  years  ago 
2,666  marks  would  have  bought.  His  lien 
against  the  wealth  of  the  community,  in  other 
words,  is  2,666  marks  to-day  instead  of  8,000 
marks.  Those  who  had  to  produce  what  the 
man  consumed  in  1914  have  to  produce  to-day 
only  a  third  of  that.  They  would  have  to  pro- 
duce as  before  if  the  government  returned  to  the 
old  value  of  the  mark,  and  since  such  a  production 
is  impossible  to-day,  with  over  two  million  able- 
bodied  men  dead  and  permanently  incapacitated, 
with  the  same  number  of  women  and  their  off- 
spring to  be  cared  for,  and  with  the  losses  from 
deterioration  to  be  made  good,  the  German  govern- 
ment cannot  take  measures  that  would  restore  the 
pre-war  value  of  the  mark,  especially  since  it  would 
have  to  pay  interest  on  war  loans  with  a  mark 
having  more  purchasing  power  than  had  the  mark 
turned  over  to  the  government  in  these  loans. 

In  adopting  the  policy  of  cheaper  money  Cen- 
tral Europe  is  doing  exactly  what  the  Roman 
government  did  more  than  two  thousand  years 
ago  and  what  every  other  government  has  since 
then  done  when  wars  had  made  the  expenditure 
of  much  of  the  state's  wealth  necessary.  Capital 
is  the  loser,  of  course.  That  cannot  be  avoided, 
however,  for  the  reason  that  capital  is  nothing 

25  373 


THE    IRON    RATION 

but  the  surplus  of  labor — that  part  of  production 
which  is  not  consumed.  During  the  European 
War  there  was  no  such  actual  surplus.  The  in- 
crease in  capital,  as  this  increase  appeared  on  the 
books  of  the  state  treasury  and  the  investors,  was 
nothing  but  an  inflation — an  inflation  which  now 
must  be  assimilated  in  figures,  since  its  influence 
upon  actual  production  is  nil. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  bankers  of 
Central  Europe  are  well  disposed  toward  a  partial 
cancelation  of  the  public  debts.  They  agree 
not  because  of  patriotic  motives,  but  for  the 
reason  that  such  a  cancelation  would  better  the 
purchasing  value  of  the  currency.  A  partial  re- 
pudiation of  the  war  loans  would  immediately 
force  down  prices  of  food  and  necessities,  in  which 
event  the  mark  or  crown  would  again  buy  more 
or  less  than  it  bought  in  1915,  let  us  assume.  For 
the  exigencies  incident  to  foreign  trade  the  step 
has  merits  of  its  own.  It  should  not  be  necessary 
to  point  out  that  a  Germany  living  on  an  Amer- 
ican-dollar basis,  as  it  is  now  doing  with  its  de- 
preciated mark,  would  find  it  hard  to  undersell 
the  American  competitor.  German  industrial 
and  commercial  interests  must  bear  this  in  mind, 
and  on  that  account  will  do  their  best  to  preserve 
the  margin  which  has  favored  them  in  the  past. 
Cheap  money  and  high  prices  do  not  make  for 
cheap  labor,  naturally.  Even  to-day  labor  in 
Central  Europe  has  risen  in  price  to  within  70 
per  cent,  of  its  cost  in  the  United  States,  while 
food  is  about  15  per  cent,  dearer  than  in  the 
American  cities. 

374 


THE   AFTERMATH 

Central  Europe,  all  of  Europe,  for  that 
matter,  will  live  on  what  may  be  called  the 
pre  -  war  American  basis  when  the  war  is 
over.  The  advantages  enjoyed  by  the  Amer- 
ican dollar  in  Europe  in  the  past  are  no  more. 
Gone  are  the  days  when  an  American  school- 
mistress could  spend  her  vacation  in  Ger- 
many or  Austria-Hungary  and  live  so  cheaply 
that  the  cost  of  the  trip  would  be  covered 
by  the  difference  in  the  price  of  board  and 
lodging.  The  cheap  tour  of  Central  Europe 
is  a  thing  of  the  past — unless  the  public  debt 
of  the  United  States  should  increase  so  much 
that  some  slight  advantage  accrue  therefrom. 
For  what  has  taken  place,  or  will  take  place 
in  Europe,  will  happen  in  the  United  States 
when  economic  readjustment  must  be  under- 
taken. 

Aside  from  some  damage  done  to  buildings  in 
East  Prussia,  Alsace-Lorraine,  Galicia,  and  along 
the  Isonzo,  the  Central  states  have  not  suffered 
directly  from  the  war.  The  losses  sustained  in 
the  districts  mentioned  are  relatively  small,  and 
much  of  them  has  already  been  repaired.  Re- 
construction of  that  sort  will  not  be  so  great  a 
task,  therefore. 

Much  labor  and  huge  expenditures  will  be  re- 
quired, however,  in  the  rehabilitation  of  the  rail- 
roads and  the  highroads.  It  will  be  necessary  to 
relay  at  least  a  quarter  of  the  bed  mileage  with 
new  ties  and  rails,  and  fully  one-half  of  the  rolling 
stock  and  motive  power  now  in  use  will  have  to 
be  discarded  before  rail  transportation  in  Central 

375 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Europe  can  be  brought  to  its  former  high 
standard. 

Pressing  as  this  work  is,  the  people  of  the  Cen- 
tral states  must  first  of  all  increase  the  produc- 
tion of  their  soil  and  bring  their  animal  industry 
into  better  condition.  For  the  first  of  these 
labors  two  or  three  years  will  suffice;  for  the 
second  a  decade  is  the  least  that  will  be  needed. 
It  will  be  necessary  for  many  years  to  come  to  re- 
strict meat  consumption.  With  the  exception 
of  South  America  nobody  has  meat  to  sell,  and 
since  all  will  draw  on  that  market  high  prices 
are  bound  to  limit  the  quantities  any  state  in 
Europe  can  buy. 

On  the  whole,  the  damage  done  by  the  war  to 
the  Central  Europeans  is  not  so  catastrophic  as 
one  would  be  inclined  to  believe.  In  fact,  the 
damage  is  great  only  when  seen  in  the  light  of  pre- 
war standards.  In  Central  Europe,  and,  for  that 
matter,  in  all  of  Europe,  nobody  expects  trains  to 
run  a  hundred  kilometers  per  hour  any  more. 
The  masses  have  forgotten  the  fleshpots  of 
Egypt,  and  will  be  glad  to  get  pork  and  poultry 
when  no  beef  is  to  be  had.  Enough  bread,  with 
a  little  butter  or  some  cheese  on  it,  will  seem  a 
godsend  to  them  for  many  a  year.  The  wooden 
shoe  has  not  proved  so  bad  a  piece  of  footgear, 
and  the  patched  suit  is  no  longer  the  hallmark 
of  low  caste.  Enough  fuel  will  go  far  in  making 
everybody  forget  that  there  was  a  war. 

Viewed  from  that  angle,  reconstruction  in  Cen- 
tral Europe  is  not  the  impossible  undertaking 
some  have  painted  it.  The  case  reminds  some- 

376 


THE    AFTERMATH 

what  of  the  habitual  drunkard  who  has  reformed 
and  feels  well  now  despite  the  fact  that  he  has 
irretrievably  damaged  his  health. 

The  assertion  has  been  made  that  the  mechan- 
ical improvements  and  innovations  made  during 
the  war  would  in  a  large  measure  balance  the 
material  damage  done.  I  have  tried  hard  to  dis- 
cover on  what  such  claims  are  founded.  The 
instance  that  would  support  such  a  contention 
has  yet  to  be  discovered,  so  far  as  I  know.  The 
little  improvements  made  in  gasolene  and  other 
internal-combustion  engines  are  hardly  worth  any- 
thing to  the  social  aggregate.  I  hope  that  nobody 
will  take  as  an  improvement  the  great  strides 
made  in  the  making  of  guns  and  ammunition. 
The  stuff  that  has  been  written  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  aeroplane  in  war  as  a  means  of  com- 
munication in  peace  is  interesting,  but  not  con- 
vincing. 

From  that  angle  the  world  has  not  been  bene- 
fited by  the  great  conflagration  that  has  swept  it. 

But  great  hopes  may  be  placed  in  the  mental 
reconstruction  that  has  been  going  on  since  the 
war  entered  upon  its  downward  curve.  Men  and 
women  in  the  countries  at  war  have  become  more 
tolerant — newspaper  editors  and  writers  ex- 
cepted,  perhaps.  As  the  war  developed  into  a 
struggle  between  populations  rather  than  between 
armies,  the  psychology  of  the  firing-line  spread 
to  those  in  the  rear.  I  have  met  few  soldiers  and 
no  officers  who  spoke  slightingly  of  their  enemies. 
They  did  not  love  their  enemies,  as  some  idealists 
demand,  but  they  respected  them.  There  is 

377 


THE   IRON    RATION 

no  hatred  in  the  trenches.  Passions  will  rise,  of 
course,  as  they  must  rise  if  killing  on  the  battle- 
field is  not  to  be  plain  murder.  But  I  have  seen 
strong  men  sob  because  half  an  hour  ago  they  had 
driven  the  bayonet  into  the  body  of  some  an- 
tagonist. I  have  also  noticed  often  that  there 
was  no  exultation  in  the  troops  that  had  de- 
feated an  enemy.  It  seemed  to  be  all  in  the  day's 
march. 

In  the  course  of  time  that  feeling  reached  the 
men  and  women  home.  The  men  from  the 
front  were  to  educate  the  population  in  that 
direction.  It  may  have  taken  three  years  of 
reiteration  to  accomplish  the  banishment  of  the 
war  spirit.  When  I  left  Central  Europe  it  had 
totally  vanished.  The  thing  had  settled  down 
to  mere  business. 

There  is  also  a  socio-political  aftermath. 

That  socialism  will  rule  Central  Europe  after 
the  war  is  believed  by  many.  I  am  not  of  that 
opinion.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  several 
governments  will  steal  much  of  the  thunder  of 
the  Social-Democrats.  Some  of  it  they  have 
purloined  already.  The  later  phases  of  food 
control  showed  usually  a  fine  regard  for  the 
masses.  That  they  did  this  was  never  more 
than  the  result  of  making  virtue  of  necessity. 
Endless  hair-splitting  in  political  theories  and 
tendency  would  result,  however,  if  we  were  to 
examine  the  interest  in  the  masses  shown  by 
the  several  governments.  What  the  socialist 
wishes  to  do  for  the  masses  for  their  own  good 
the  government  did  for  the  good  of  the  state. 

378 


THE    AFTERMATH 

Since  the  masses  are  the  state,  and  since  I  am 
not  interested  in  political  propaganda  of  any 
sort,  mere  quibbling  would  result  from  the  at- 
tempt to  draw  distinctions.  Politics  have  never 
been  more  than  the  struggle  between  the  masses 
that  wanted  to  control  the  government  and  the 
government  that  wanted  to  control  the  masses. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Central 
Europe,  the  several  governments  had  to  pub- 
licly admit  that  the  masses  were  indispensable 
in  their  scheme  instead  of  merely  necessary. 
That  they  were  necessary  had  been  realized  in 
the  manner  in  which  the  farmer  looks  upon  the 
draft  animal.  The  several  governments  had  also 
done  the  best  they  could  to  have  this  policy  be 
as  humane  as  possible.  There  were  sick  bene- 
fits and  pensions.  Such  things  made  the  popu- 
lace content  with  its  lot.  So  long  as  old  age  had 
at  least  the  promise  that  a  pension  would  keep 
the  wolf  from  the  door,  small  wages,  military 
service,  heavy  taxes,  and  class  distinctions  were 
bound  to  be  overlooked  by  all  except  the  wide- 
awake and  enterprising.  The  few  that  were 
able  to  examine  the  scheme  from  without,  as 
it  were,  might  voice  their  doubts  that  this  was 
the  best  manner  in  which  the  ship  of  state  could 
be  steered,  but  their  words  generally  fell  on  the 
ears  of  a  populace  to  which  government  was 
indeed  a  divine-right  institution. 

I  have  met  Germans  and  Austro-Hungarians 
who  were  able  to  grasp  the  idea  that  the  govern- 
ment ought  to  be  their  servant  instead  of  their 
master.  Their  number  was  small,  however. 

379 


THE    IRON   RATION 

Generally,  such  men  were  socialists  rather  than 
rationalists. 

It  is  nothing  unusual  to  meet  persons,  afflicted 
with  a  disease,  who  claim  that  nothing  is  wrong 
with  them.  The  "giftie"  for  which  Burns 
prayed  is  not  given  to  us.  It  was  so  with  the 
Germans  and  the  thing  called  militarism.  I 
have  elsewhere  referred  to  the  fact  that  mili- 
tarism as  an  internal  condition  in  the  German 
Empire  meant  largely  that  thinking  was  an 
offense.  But  the  Prussian  had  accepted  that 
as  something  quite  natural.  We  need  not  be 
surprised  at  that.  Prussia  is  essentially  a  mili- 
tary state.  The  army  made  Prussia  what  it  is. 
Not  alone  did  it  make  the  state  a  political  force, 
but  it  also  was  the  school  in  which  men  were 
trained  into  good  subjects.  In  this  school  the 
inherent  love  of  the  German  for  law  and  order 
was  supplemented  by  a  discipline  whose  prin- 
cipal ingredient  was  that  the  state  came  first 
and  last  and  that  the  individual  existed  for  the 
state. 

The  non-Prussians  of  the  German  Empire, 
then,  knew  that  militarism,  in  its  internal  aspect, 
was  a  state  of  things  that  made  independent 
thought  impossible.  To  that  extent  they  hated 
the  system,  without  overlooking  its  good  points, 
however.  The  fact  is  that  much  of  what  is 
really  efficient  in  Germany  had  its  birth  in  the 
Prussian  army.  Without  this  incubator  of  or- 
ganization and  serious  effort,  Germany  would 
have  never  risen  to  the  position  that  is  hers. 

As  a  civilian  I  cannot  but  resent  the  presump- 

380 


THE    AFTERMATH 

tion  of  another  to  deny  me  the  right  to  think. 
Yet  there  was  a  time  when  I  was  a  member  of  an 
organization  that  could  not  exist  if  everybody 
were  permitted  to  think  and  act  accordingly.  I 
refer  to  the  army  of  the  late  South  African  Re- 
public. Though  the  Boer  was  as  free  a  citizen 
as  ever  lived  and  was  of  nothing  so  intolerant  as 
of  restraint  of  any  sort,  it  became  necessary  to 
put  a  curb  upon  his  mind  in  the  military  service. 
That  this  had  to  be  done,  if  discipline  was  to 
prevail,  will  be  conceded  by  all.  The  same  thing 
is  practised  by  the  business  man,  whose  em- 
ployees cannot  be  allowed  to  think  for  themselves 
in  matters  connected  with  the  affairs  of  the  firm. 
On  that  point  we  need  not  cavil. 

The  mistake  of  the  men  in  Berlin  was  that 
they  carried  this  prohibition  of  thinking  too  far. 
It  went  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  barrack- 
yard — permeated,  in  fact,  the  entire  socio-politi- 
cal fabric.  That  was  the  unlovely  part  of  militar- 
ism in  Prussia  and  Germany.  The  policy  of  the 
several  governments,  to  give  state  employment 
only  to  men  who  had  served  in  the  army,  carried 
the  command  of  the  drill  sergeant  into  the  small- 
est hamlet,  where,  unchecked  by  intelligent  con- 
trol, it  grew  into  an  eternal  nightmare  that 
strangled  many  of  the  better  qualities  of  the  race 
or  at  best  gave  these  qualities  no  field  in  which 
they  might  exert  themselves.  The  liberty-loving 
race  which  in  the  days  of  Napoleon  had  produced 
such  men  as  Scharnhorst  and  Liichow,  Korner 
and  others,  and  the  legions  they  commanded,  was 
on  the  verge  of  becoming  a  non-thinking  machine, 

381 


THE    IRON   RATION 

which  men  exercising  power  for  the  lust  of  power 
could  employ,  when  industrial  and  commercial 
despots  were  not  exploiting  its  constituents. 

The  war  showed  some  of  the  thinkers  in  the 
government  that  this  could  not  go  on.  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg,  for  instance,  saw  that  the  time 
was  come  when  Prussia  would  have  to  adopt  more 
liberal  institutions.  The  Prussian  election  sys- 
tem would  have  to  be  made  more  equitable. 
Agitation  for  that  had  been  the  burning  issue  for 
many  a  year  before  the  war,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  that  something  would  have  been  done  by 
the  government  had  it  not  feared  the  Social- 
Democrats.  The  fact  is  that  the  Prussian  gov- 
ernment had  lost  confidence  in  the  people.  And 
it  had  good  reason  for  that.  The  men  in 
responsible  places  knew  only  too  well  that  the 
remarkable  growth  of  socialism  in  the  country 
was  due  to  dissatisfaction  with  the  rule  of  Prus- 
sian Junkerism.  They  did  not  have  the  political 
insight  and  sagacity  to  conclude  that  a  people, 
which  in  the  past  had  not  even  aspired  to  repub- 
licanism, would  abandon  the  Social-Democratic 
ideals  on  the  day  that  saw  the  birth  of  a  respon- 
sible monarchical  form  of  government.  What 
they  could  see,  though,  was  that  the  men  coming 
home  after  the  war  would  not  permit  a  continua- 
tion of  a  government  that  looked  upon  itself  as  the 
holy  of  holies  for  which  the  race  was  to  spill  its 
blood  whenever  the  high  priest  of  the  cult  thought 
that  necessary. 

"We  are  fighting  for  our  country!"  is  the  reply 
that  has  been  given  me  by  thousands  of  German 

382 


THE    AFTERMATH 

soldiers.  Not  a  one  has  ever  told  me  that  he  was 
fighting  for  the  Emperor,  despite  the  fact  that 
against  their  King  and  Emperor  these  men  held 
no  grudge.  And  here  I  should  draw  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  German  Emperor  means 
comparatively  little  to  the  South  Germans,  the 
Bavarian,  for  instance.  He  has  his  own  monarch. 
While  the  Emperor  is  de  jure  and  de  facto  the 
War  Lord,  he  is  never  more  than  a  sort  of  com- 
mander-in-chief  to  the  non-Prussian  part  of  the 
German  army. 

Liberal  government  is  bound  to  come  for  Ger- 
many from  the  war.  There  can  be  no  question  of 
a  change  in  the  form  of  government,  however. 
Those  who  believe  that  the  Germans  would  un- 
dertake a  revolution  in  favor  of  the  republican 
form  of  government  know  as  little  of  Germany 
as  they  know  of  the  population  said  to  be  on  Mars. 
The  German  has  a  monarchical  mind.  His 
family  is  run  on  that  principle.  The  husband 
and  father  is  the  lord  of  the  household — Der  Herr 
im  Hause.  Just  as  the  lord  of  the  family  house- 
hold will  have  less  to  say  in  the  future,  so  will  the 
lord  of  the  state  household  have  less  to  say  in  the 
years  to  come.  There  will  be  more  co-operation 
between  man  and  woman  in  the  German  house- 
hold in  the  future  and  the  same  will  take  place  in 
the  state  family.  The  government  will  have  to 
learn  that  he  is  best  qualified  to  rule  who  must 
apply  the  least  effort  in  ruling — that  he  can  best 
command  who  knows  best  how  to  obey. 

This  is  the  handwriting  on  the  wall  in  Ger- 
many to-day.  A  large  class  is  still  blind  to  the 

383 


THE    IRON   RATION 

"Mene,  mene,  tekel,  upharsin"  but  that  class 
must  either  mend  its  way  or  go  down  in  defeat. 
The  German  at  the  front  has  ceased  to  think 
himself  the  tool  of  the  government.  He  is  willing 
to  be  an  instrument  of  authority  so  long  as  that 
authority  represents  not  a  wholly  selfish  and 
self-sufficient  caste. 

The  indications  for  their  development  lie  in 
the  fact  that  the  German  generally  does  not  hold 
the  Prussian  element  in  the  empire  responsible 
for  the  war.  The  Bavarian  does  not  hate  the 
Prussian.  The  West  German  does  not  enter- 
tain dislike  for  the  men  east  of  the  Elbe  river. 
What  Bismarck  started  in  1870  is  being  com- 
pleted by  the  European  War.  All  sectionalism 
has  disappeared.  Three  years'  contact  with  the 
German  army,  and  study  of  the  things  that  are 
German,  has  convinced  me  that  to-day  there 
is  no  Prussian,  Bavarian,  Saxon,  Wurtem- 
berger,  Badenser,  Hanoverian,  or  Hessian.  I 
have  never  met  any  but  Germans,  in  contrast 
to  conditions  in  the  Austro-Hungarian  army, 
where  in  a  single  army  corps  I  could  draw  easily 
distinction  between  at  least  four  of  the  races  in 
the  Dual  Monarchy. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  people 
speak  one  language  and  have  been  driven  into 
closer  union  by  the  defense  of  a  common  cause. 
What  is  true  of  racial  affinity  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  is  true  in  the  case  of  the  German  race; 
all  the  more  true  since  the  latter  lives  within 
the  same  federation. 

I  must  make  reference  here  to  the  fact  that 

384 


THE   AFTERMATH 

even  the  German  socialists  are  no  great  admirers 
of  the  republican  form  of  government.  Of  the 
many  of  their  leaders  whom  I  have  met,  not  a 
single  one  was  in  favor  of  the  republic.  Usually 
they  maintained  that  France  had  not  fared  well 
under  the  republican  form  of  government.  When 
the  great  success  of  republicanism  in  Switzer- 
land was  brought  to  their  attention,  they  would 
point  out  that  what  was  possible  in  a  small 
country  was  not  necessarily  possible  in  a  large 
one.  Upon  the  American  republic  and  its  govern- 
ment most  of  these  men  looked  with  disdain, 
asserting  that  nowhere  was  the  individual  so 
exploited  as  in  the  United  States.  It  was  that 
very  exploitation  that  they  were  opposed  to,  said 
these  men.  Government  was  necessary,  so  long 
as  an  anarchic  society  was  impossible  and  inter- 
nationalism was  as  far  off  as  ever,  as  the  war  it- 
self had  shown.  Germany,  they  asserted,  was  in 
need  of  a  truly  representative  government  that 
would  as  quickly  as  possible  discard  militarism 
and  labor  earnestly  for  universal  disarmament. 
A  monarch  could  labor  better  in  that  vineyard 
than  the  head  of  a  republic,  so  long  as  his  min- 
isters were  responsible  to  the  people. 

Upon  that  view  we  may  look  as  the  extreme 
measure  of  reform  advocated  by  any  political 
party  in  Germany  to-day.  It  is  that  of  the 
Scheidemann  faction  of  Social-Democrats,  a 
party  which  latterly  has  been  dubbed  "monarchi- 
cal socialists."  The  extreme  doctrinarians  in  the 
socialist  camp,  Haase  and  Liebknecht,  go  further 
than  that,  to  be  sure,  but  their  demands  will  not 

385 


THE   IRON   RATION 

be  heeded,  even  after  the  pending  election  reforms 
have  been  made.  The  accession  to  articulate 
party  politics  in  Germany,  which  these  reforms 
will  bring,  will  go  principally  to  the  Liberal  group, 
among  whom  the  conservative  socialists  must 
be  numbered  to-day.  Not  socialism,  but  rational- 
ism will  rule  in  Germany  when  the  war  is  over. 
One  of  the  results  of  this  will  be  that  the 
Prussian  Junker  will  have  passed  into  oblivion 
a  few  years  hence.  Even  now  his  funeral  ora- 
tion is  being  said,  and  truly,  to  be  fair  to  the 
Junker: 

The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them, 
The  good  is  oft'  interred  with  their  bones. 


THE  END 


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